Fairy Tail: A Christmas Special!
by HappyTheCamper
Summary: Mavis joins the guild for a surprise visit during this year's Christmas, and now she wants to have a Secret Santa gift exchange on Christmas eve! Watch and enjoy as the mages of Fairy Tail are randomly assigned friends to shop for as they search all across the kingdom for their gifts! (Especially Lucy, who ended up receiving a very special name...) Contains humor and mild romance.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: Hello, and welcome back to my page! I am Happycamper999, and I am excited to announce I am all done with my fall semester of my senior year in college! To celebrate I have written a 12 part Christmas Special for the mages of Fairy Tail! What will they be doing? Read and Find out!**

 **I will say one thing...This story will contain my original character, so if you want more info on him head to my page and read his short bio, or don't and enjoy it either way! (but prep for spoilers from my other stories...) He's not that detailed, so it shouldn't be a big deal!**

 **In any case, relax and enjoy the holiday season with your favorite mages of Fairy Tail!**

 _ **It is important to not that I do not own Fairy Tail. It, it's story, characters, settings and all other aspects are the property of Hiro Mashima. The only aspects I may claim are the plot and several original characters.**_

* * *

Fairy Tail - _A Christmas Special!_

Chapter One - On the First Day

* * *

It's the most wonderful time of the year! The snow is falling, and the wind is chilly yet pleasant in the Town of Magnolia. December had finally come to Fiore, and winter was joining it to stay. Not only was the cold air sweeping through the south, but it was also the end of the year, which meant _Christmas_ was finally coming to town.

Here we find Wendy Marvel sighing with delight as she strolls through the winter wonderland with a great big smile on her face, and her exceed Carla by her side.

"Oh boy!" Wendy began spinning through the falling ice as her tiny exceed friend shook her head in disagreement. "I really do love this weather! It's so beautiful, isn't it Carla?"

Carla turned away. "Well, it' a bit _too_ cold if you ask me. After all Magnolia rarely dips down to these temperatures. It feels like we're standing on top of Mount Hakobe!" She began to tug down on her small pink mittens and pulled her scarf tighter around her tiny feline neck.

Wendy continued smiling. "Yea, I know. Still it sure is pretty out here!" The young _Dragon Slayer_ looked inside the window of a local gift shop, and noticed all of the yuletide decorations had made it onto the walls and doors. "Besides, now we're one step closer to _Christmas_!"

Carla had no choice but to smile. "Yes, I suppose you're right. I imagine the town will begin to show its festive side as the season rolls around."

Wendy then kept marching forward in agreement. "No doubt! I can't wait to see what _Fairy Tail_ has planned. I hope it's something fun!"

* * *

As Wendy and Carla made it to the large and elaborate Guild Hall, they finally passed through the famous _Fairy Tail_ doors and greeted all their friends with warm smiles.

However, not everyone was equally excited for the cool weather. As they came inside, Natsu Dragneel shouted over to the door.

"HEY COME ON WENDY!? IT'S FREEZING OUT THERE!" Natsu harmlessly snapped at his blue haired friend to quickly shut the door as she and Carla made it inside.

"Actually what Natsu's _trying_ to say is Welcome Back! I hope you guys had a good mission!" Meanwhile his other friend, Lucy Heartfilia rolled her eyes and smiled as she gestured for the newest guests to come take a seat.

Wendy knew Natsu wasn't actually being mean and smiled back. "Gee, thanks Lucy! It was actually pretty easy. They only needed Carla and me to help with a few simple house chores."

Carla rolled her eyes and jumped onto the table. "Yes, and it was far too much work for such a little reward. Not to mention the timing of this cold weather!"

Then, she stopped as her blue friend Happy came over and wrapped a green blanket around her shivering shoulders. "Awe, well it sounds like you guy's had it rough, huh? How about I order you a nice hot chocolate?" The blue exceed gave his white-furred friend puppy-dog eyes as she looked away.

"No thank you, maybe later…come to think about it I expected this place to be more decorated for the holidays?"

Wendy then looked around with her. "Yea, where are all the decorations?"

Lucy joined in and soon realized the _Fairy Tail_ Guild hall appeared to be rather lack-luster with their festive decor. Other than a few dusty wreaths and several balls of holly stuffed everywhere the bar looked rather naked for this time of year.

Lucy then pondered that thought and called over to Mira with a new question. "Hey, Mira, is there any reason the guild isn't looking very Christmassy? We're only a few weeks away, and I would have expected to see a little more than _this_ by now?" She picked up a fallen cluster of holly that had fallen from the ceiling and landed in front of her.

Mira stopped her chore of scrubbing the bar-top counter in order to sigh. "Yes I know. It's just hard to get too excited about Christmas at _Fairy Tail_ since everyone keeps so busy over the season."

Her short haired sister, Lisanna then stopped her scrubbing to add on. "Yea, some people stick around, but for the most part we can't seem to get very many people in for the holidays."

Natsu would have joined in, but after Wendy shut the door he was finally able to rest his head on the hard table for a quick and solid nap.

Meanwhile, the icy Gray Fullbuster walked over and rolled his eyes. "Geeze, can this idiot just do that at home?" He then sat down and continued talking to the girls. "Yea, I gotta admit this place is really depressing right now. I would have at least liked to see a tree or something."

Happy looked sad as he sat by Carla. "Does this mean we won't get Christmas this year?"

Lucy turned her head, and grabbed his little blue paw. "Awe, don't say that. I mean if we're all here than…"

 _*SLAM!*_

The small crowd of the guild hall all jumped up and looked over as the saw four figures standing in the door way.

Natsu woke up after feeling the chilly air and jumped up with another fit of anger. "GEEZE CAN'T YOU GUYS JUST LET ME SLEEP!?"

He ran forward but was immediately cloths-lined by a large metal club to the face.

Standing in the doorway was none other than Gajeel Redfox dressed in a red flannel shirt and brown work pants. He also had his tiny exceed Panther Lily standing right beside him wearing a matching outfit.

Gajeel then howled and addressed his guild members. "Relax, Salamander. We just came in to brighten the place up a bit…"

He then turned and made room for Master Makarov Dreyar, who was carrying in a large and elaborate Christmas tree, and following behind on the other end was his quiet and short-tempered grandson, Laxus.

They both had on similar outfits to Gajeel and Lily, only their flannel shirts were the color of forest green.

As they carried in a large green Christmas tree, Gray began to chuckle. "Wow, look at all the little lumber jacks."

Laxus snapped in response. "Hey, let's keep the lip down to a minimum. We just figured we'd bring some more Christmas spirit to the guild hall this year."

The small crowd looked puzzled as Mira spoke up. "But Master, this is usually a very busy time of year for the guild…?"

Makarov busted out with laughter as he slammed the front end of the tree down. "Ah who cares!? I told all of our clients that the champions of the _Grand Magic Games_ wanted to celebrate Christmas in the comfort of their guild hall this year, and thanks to Warren everyone else in the guild got the message."

Warren Rocko stood up from another table in the room. "Ah, it's no big deal. Just tryin' to help the guild!"

Max Alors laughed from across the table. "Yea, this place was starting to look a bit too depressing. We were willing to do anything to keep this Christmas from going down the drain."

Everyone cheered as the little Wendy Marvel spoke up. "Wow that's amazing! Do we have anything special planned?"

As Makarov went to answer, he was cut-off as a rather festive ghost of Mavis Vermillion flew in behind him wearing a red and white Santa hat and started giggling in her response.

"Well of course! I thought it would be in our best interests if we held a guild-wide _Secret Santa Gift Exchange_ this year, with almost forty members in total!"

Makarov quickly added on. "We will also hold the final gift exchange during our Christmas Eve extravaganza in exactly 12 days. So ya better buckle down and buy your gifts early!"

Everyone started feeling the new wave of Christmas spirit, and all jumped out of their seats, and as they did Natsu finally let a smile appear on his face.

"OH MAN THIS IS GONNA BE EPIC! I can't wait to have a huge party!" He seemed more awake than before, and decided now was the best time to join the others.

Happy replied with equal the intensity. "Aye Sir! It's gonna be off the hook!"

* * *

As the afternoon finally rolled around, Warren had finally achieved the impossible and gathered all the well-known members of _Fairy Tail_ into the bar hall.

As they all went to begin, the last sound of the doors slamming open echoed through the hall as two final figures emerged in the door way.

Standing in the scene was _Fairy Tail's_ Ace, Gildarts Clive, and he was also being joined by what appeared to be Jellal Fernandes disguised as Mistogan.

Right as they entered, Cana Alberona and Erza Scarlett both sat lower in their seats as they tried to avoid eye contact with the two new guests.

Yet as they stayed hidden, a group of men at the bar started chuckling into their hands.

"Oh boy." Macao laughed. "Ol' Gildarts actually showed up for this thing. And I guess he brought that Jellal kid with him." He took a large gulp from his own drink and looked over to his company.

Wakaba tried holding in his laughter to get another drag off his pipe. "Yea, and it looks like Erza and Cana are prayin' ta God they both find new plans for Christmas Eve. Can't those two just suck it up for the holidays?"

"Beats me..." Macao went to turn to their third guest, who was actually a crossed town local, and friend to the guild Nigel Thomas. However, as the former guild master tried to end the joke then and there, he looked over and noticed Nigel the businessman was trying to lengthen the humor.

"Here gang have a seat over here!" Nigel took a leap over to the table Erza and Cana were sitting at, and sat down with the two girls to try and invite Jellal and Gildarts over to chat. However, the moment he joined the new table, both girls looked angrier than ever.

Gildarts started first the moment he took his seat. "Gee thanks Nigel…Awe Cana! Your wittle sweater is so adorwable this year!" The loving father then wrapped his intoxicated daughter in a tight hug as she sighed with anger.

"Yea, well the moment you let go of me I'm running to the bathroom and throwing it in the trash…" Cana tried acting festive for the guild's sake by wearing an ugly Christmas sweater, but the comment from her loving father made her rethink her decision from earlier that morning.

Meanwhile, Erza and Jellal sat awkwardly next to each other without saying a single word, and as each table fully settled down, Master Makarov stood atop the bar and finally began addressing his peers.

"Greetings, and welcome _Fairy Tail_ Wizards! If this guild learned anything over the last year it is that we will always be a family no matter the circumstances. Even if this world tries to pull us apart, the strength and conviction from our bonds and friendships will hold us together and unite us in pride!"

The whole guild erupted with a loud cheer as he continued.

"To honor the end of a miraculous year we will be holding a very festive and very exciting gift exchange on the night of Christmas Eve!"

The guild hall once again cheered with passion, and as they quelled Elfman Strauss stood up and yelled with gusto. "Oh man! This Christmas is gonna be super manly!"

Gray sat beside his large, white haired friend and gave him a pat on the back. "Hey big guy, save the excitement for the party!"

Juvia Lockster, who sat on the other side of the Ice-Make wizard then leaned in closer to address her knew idea. "Oh Gray! Wouldn't it be splendid if you and I received each other for this year's Secret Santa!?"

Gray waved her question down as he replied. "Well I mean, it would take all the fun out of the surprise."

Lucy then laughed from across the table. "Yea, besides the whole guild is a family! So in a way we should all be excited no matter…"

Juvia snapped up and glared back at Lucy. "Grr, I will NOT let you steal Gray from me this holiday season, you floozy!"

Lucy sunk down with confusion. "We didn't even celebrate Christmas _last_ season…?"

Natsu then spoke up with a smile. "Ah, ignore her Lucy! I think you're right! We're all family, so who cares who gets who!"

Lucy rolled her eyes and laughed. "Easy for you to say, Natsu!" She then kept her next thought to herself.

 _"_ _God, can you imagine if I got stuck getting a gift for Natsu!? I wouldn't have a clue what to get him! I'm not even sure he knows what he wants half the time."_

Lucy's thought would have to wait, however. After she ceased her day dreaming Master Makarov continued to lecture the crowd.

"BEHOLD!" He yelled as Master Mavis held up a big glass bowl to his left. "From here you will all be given a name of a guild member. After you've chosen, you will have 12 days to buy, make or search for your gifts in time for the party on December the 24th."

The crowd fell silent as Droy stopped eating to shout out the obvious. "Hold on, how can Mavis be holding the bowl?"

Jet punched him right in the arm. "Shut up, Man! Don't hurt her feelings."

Mavis ignored their conversation as she continued on with her explanation. "Okay, now we will leave this bowl right on the counter all day long. It currently contains the names of everyone in this room. If you wish to pull your name out of the exchange, let me know and I will see to it that your entry will be destroyed.

The guild kept silent as she continued. "Oh goody! Now, everyone is only allowed to draw ONE name, and if you happen to draw your name you must put it back!"

Before the crowd could protest, little Asuka Connell ran up to the counter and jumped onto the bar stool that sat in front of the bowl.

"YAY! I wanna play!" Asuka went to reach her hand in before her parents shouted out to her.

"Wait, honey! I think we're gonna pull our names from the pot, first." Alzack smiled as he grabbed his daughter and lifted her up.

Bisca then looked at Mavis. "Yea, I think we'll just leave Asuka's name in there and we can all go shopping as a family."

Mavis blushed and giggled with excitement. "How adorable! I'll take your names out before anyone picks them and then we can…"

"YAY I GOT GILDAWTS!" Asuka had apparently leaned out of her dad's arms in order to snag the first name, only now everyone knew who she had.

Everyone laughed and Master Makarov spoke first. "Oh, Asuka you we supposed to keep it a secret…"

"Nah, let her keep it. I can't wait to see what she gets me!"

Everyone turned to find Gildarts smiling as he walked over to the bowl. "Let me just grab my name out of the bowl here…" The large _Crash Mage_ then reached in a picked out a second slip of paper.

"Oh, this'll be good…" He smiled with a cheeky grin and turned around to leave.

As he did he then looked over to Jellal. "Hey, grab yours and let's head out."

Jellal froze as he stood up. "Er, uh…right."

The Heavenly body mage stood up with all eyes on him as he reached in and pulled out the third name. He instantly blushed, but luckily no one saw it because of his disguise.

As the two men left for the door Natsu ran up and quickly grabbed a piece of paper out of the bowl. He then turned and ran for the door.

"HOLD ON I'M GOING WITH YOU GUYS!"

"AYE! WAIT FOR ME!" Happy then flew out of his seat and grabbed the fifth paper and followed his pink haired friend.

Sadly, the doors slammed shut as Natsu and Happy both ran face first into the wooden planks.

Lucy giggled and shook her head. "Maybe I should have stopped them."

She then stopped her thought as Cana wobbled past her table with a laugh in her voice.

"AH, calm down Lucy. Those fools are just clumsy is all…" Ironically, Cana couldn't even walk straight as she went up to the counter and reached into the bowl. When she pulled out her choice, she instantly laughed.

"HA! This will be so easy! I've already won this game!" The drunken _Card Mage_ boasted with her new pick as she shoved the slip of paper into her bra.

She stumbled back to her seat as Nigel passed her to get his pick, but as he did, he began questioning his choice in alcoholic beverage.

"Ahehe...why would I not question the floating bowl? Maybe I've had too much too drink. "Nigel knew Mavis was there, but without any guild emblem to allow her to become visible, he had to trust his friends from the guild that the first master was actually there and present. He then pulled out his slip of paper, and smiled with faint delight.

"Oh! This is…!" He went to continue but noticed the entire room got quiet as all eyes fell on him.

Natsu and Happy had finally made it back to the table, and the _Fire Dragon Slayer_ rubbed his head and looked over with a puzzled view. "I don't get it, why did everyone shut up?"

Gray rolled his eyes and took a sip of his drink. "Nigel's rich, you moron…They're all probably wondering if their name is on his paper."

Immediately every member of _Fairy Tail_ jumped on his case and quickly defended themselves without sounding greedy.

As the guild erupted Mavis giggled, but Nigel walked by and took up his original glass and downed it in one go.

He then laughed as he left for the door. "Eh, we'll see what I can do..."

* * *

The morning quickly passed, and one by one each Fairy Tail wizard went up to select their picks from the bowl.

That is everyone except for Lucy, who sat by Natsu and Happy and nursed their sore heads from before.

"Gee, why did you two have to be so reckless?"

" _UUGGHH!_ "

Both children then moaned simultaneously as Lucy shook her head, and before she could answer her own question, Wendy yelled over to her. "Hey Lucy! Aren't you going to pick a name?"

Lucy shot up and smiled with surprise. "Oh yea! Thanks, Wendy!"

She then walked over to the bowl to find only three names were left inside. She also noticed Mavis and Makarov had decided to wait for everyone else to finish before they chose their own picks.

Mavis giggled and gave Lucy a wink as she extended the bowl for her to reach. "Remember, choose _wisely!_ "

Lucy smiled and reached in to grab one of the three remaining names. The blonde then pulled out the single piece of paper and went to read it, but she didn't even have time to decipher the name before she heard a loud yell screaming from across the guild.

"WHO HAS HIM!? TELL ME WHO HAS _GRAY!_ "

Lucy turned to find Juvia holding the large but passive Nab Lasaro pinned against the request wall, and apparently the crazed _Water Mage_ was going around to every guild member looking for Gray's slip of paper.

Lucy would have laughed out loud, but that was before she read the name on her piece of paper.

 **"** **GRAY FULLBUSTER"**

The blonde _Celestial Spirit_ Mage quickly gulped as Juvia looked over in her direction and began scowling with raw anger.

"Love Rival…"

* * *

 **Sh*t, Juvia's pissed...we'll see what Lucy's fate is tomorrow!**

 **FYI, I will be uploading one chapter a day from now until December 24th (so there will be no release to keep you from your families on the actual 25th of December.)**

 **Also, not all the chapters will be this long, so don't worry, and I have everything 100% completed over on Microsoft Word, so don't worry about me flaking and not updating!**

 **Please come back tomorrow for a more official opening note, and I hope you enjoyed it!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: Hello! Here is the second chapter of my Fairy Tail Christmas Special! As I said, I will supply a little extra header today.**

 **So this is the second chapter, which means if you've made t here you will more than likely be my _real_ audience, so yay!**

 **Also, this story will be a twelve part special, twelve days of Christmas...yea just go with it. The last chapter set the scene, but the next nine or so chapters will feature specific characters in their search for gifts, and each chapter will turn its focus on a different group! The last two or so chapters will give the FT members time to organize themselves, and the chapter I release on the 24th will be the actual gift exchange, so please stick around to enjoy the Christmas Countdown with me and the Mages of Fairy Tail!**

 **Also, I do not own _Fairy Tail_.**

 **(PS, don't be fooled by the name Lucy drew in the last chapter...)**

* * *

Chapter Two - On the Second Day

* * *

Lucy didn't even have time to run before _Juvia of the Great Sea_ ran over and pinned her to a bar stool in a bout of pure rage. She was on the hunt for the ticket to getting Gray a Christmas gift for Secret Santa, and Lucy was the one who kept her from having it.

"YOU! _YOU_ STOLE HIS NAME FROM THE BOWL, _DIDN'T_ YOU!?"

Juvia had searched all over the guild trying and find the person that pulled Gray's name out of the Secret Santa bowl, and just as her luck was running out she managed to find the person who had it.

Sadly for Lucy, it was her. The poor blonde wizard couldn't even come up with a defense to save her in this perilous situation.

"Um…H-Hi Juvia. Listen I really didn't try to pick his name…"

"QUIET!" Juvia snapped back as she held Lucy's arms in place. "WHAT WILL IT TAKE FOR ME TO HAVE HIM!?"

Juvia then silenced herself with a blank expression on her face and looked down to Lucy's rather exposed chest, and right away Lucy blushed and covered herself as she yelled back in anger.

"NOT GONNA HAPPEN!" She didn't even know what Juvia was going to suggest. " _HERE_ , you can just have him!"

Lucy freed herself and tossed her slip of paper up in the air, and without hesitation Juvia grabbed it and brought it in to her tight grip.

"Teehee! Oh thank you Lucy! I _knew_ we were good friends!" She jumped up and brought Lucy in for a tight hug.

Lucy rolled her eyes as she began suffocating from the embrace. "Yea…erg...whatever."

Juvia let go and left to carry out her mission, but not before she stopped and turned back to Lucy. "Oh, here is my paper. I suppose we should trade!"

The blonde gasped as Juvia handed her the other slip of paper. She then cried out for Juvia as the energetic rain woman left for the door.

"Hold on who is…?" Lucy's words stopped as her cheeks began flushing with red the moment she read her new name for the Secret Santa gift exchange.

 **"** **NATSU DRAGNEEL"**

The blonde mage had no idea what to say after seeing his name on the paper, and as a result, fell to the floor with total disappointment.

"OH COME ON!?"

* * *

 _~Meanwhile…_

"Tsk, I can't believe _you_ guys had to drag me with you." Gray Fullbuster looked down to a rather ill Natsu as they both road with Happy on a train out of Magnolia.

Happy giggled as he fanned Natsu with a newspaper. "Aye! Natsu said Lucy was too busy wasting her time with Juvia, so I decided we should take you!"

Gray laughed and scratched his chin. "Lucy and Juvia? That's a _weird_ friendship…"

Natsu spoke up from his sickly state. "Yea…wouldn't it be funny if Juvia had your name for Secret Santa?…hehe." He tried to laugh as he held down his lunch.

Gray waved his hand and looked away. "Just stop, I don't want any nightmares, tonight…so why did you wanna go to Crocus, Happy?"

Happy looked up and smiled. "I dunno. I just figured they would have a lot of cool stuff. Oh I know! We could all get our partners cool stuff!"

Even though the gift exchange selections technically weren't "partners" Natsu still rolled over and laughed. "Well…now we know who Happy got."

Happy turned around and smacked Natsu on the leg. "What's _that_ supposed to mean!?"

Natsu retaliated. "HEY! THAT HURT!...anyway who did you get, Gray?"

Gray looked puzzled. "Guys, you're really not supposed to tell…" He went to continue but noticed Natsu and Happy were both staring blankly back at him.

Gray sighed and continued. "Ugh fine. I got Bickslow, okay?"

Happy jumped up with a smile. "Oh that's...wait, what will Bickslow want for Christmas?"

Gray scratched his chin. "I dunno. But like you said Crocus is pretty big. I'm sure we'll find something."

Happy smiled and looked back at Natsu. "Who did you get, Natsu?"

Natsu laughed. "Ha! Like I'd tell you losers. Besides Gray said we shouldn't share the names!" He then quit laughing as he dry-heaved into a nearby trash can.

Happy and Gray both face-palmed as Gray spoke up first.

"Great…this will be a longer day than I thought."

After an excruciating day-long train ride across Fiore; Natsu, Gray, and Happy all made it to the large and elaborate train station of the Crocus, the flower blooming capital of the kingdom.

As soon as the train stopped, Natsu stumbled out of the door as the first passenger out of the cart. "Ugh, can we just walk on the way back?"

Gray followed him out and rolled his eyes. "Nah, we'll just buy you a bucket while we're in town." _The Ice Make_ wizard gave the _Salamander_ no sympathy as he then looked for a map. "So, I wonder where the best shops are at in this place?"

Happy started panicking. "Hold on, didn't you fight in the whole city during the last day of the Grand Magic Games? I figured _you_ would know where places were."

Gray turned away. "Yea well I wasn't really taken notes that day. There's gotta to be a map somewhere."

As Gray began to look for a directory he then spotted a bizarre advertisement along the side of the walkway in the train station.

He slowly walked over and noticed there were a few _very familiar faces_ modeling some very expensive clothing in a wall ad just inside the station.

"Hold on…is that _Cana_?"

Gray recognized the drunken _Card Mage_ as soon as he saw her face. She appeared to be modeling some very high-fashioned designer clothing for a regional tailor company.

Natsu walked up and scratched his head. "Yea! And that's Erza!"

Pictured to her left was none other than the Titania of Fairy Tail, dressed up in equally eligent clothing fit for a night out on the town. As they looked even further, they could also see ads featuring other familiar guild faces, both boy and girl.

Natsu huffed out with anger the moment he saw everyone's face but his own. "Total BS! Why was I never asked to do a photo shoot!?"

"Natsu, shut up." Gray rolled his eyes. "You never would have agreed to it anyway." He then looked around, and failed to see his own pictures. "Besides, you're not the only one who never got the invite."

"Yea, hehe..." Happy started covering his face. "Maybe whoever asked them to do it just doesn't like...hold on! There's Nigel too!"

He was right. Towards the end, and conveniently located inside the same ad as the map was actually the wealthy businessman Nigel standing next to his brown haired bride-to-be. Like Cana and the others, Nigel was also dressed in high-fashioned clothing, only for some reason, it almost looked natural to him.

Happy scratched his chin and commented on the bizarre ad in its whole, but then put two-and-two together once he remembered Nigel's background in business. "Huh. I wonder if this will get us any discounts…?"

* * *

After finding a directory and locating the garment district of Crocus, Natsu and the gang made their way to a very large and luxurious three storied building at the center of a majestic plaza.

Natsu smiled as he gazed at the impressive building. "Wow, that thing is huge!"

Gray looked puzzled. "Yea, that's even bigger than that stupid clothing store Lucy went to shop at in that _Pokémon game_ …"

Natsu and Gray then sat in silence as they tried to reminisce on their days inside _virtual reality_ , but Happy snapped them out of it as he flew forward.

"Come on! This is the store that has all those billboards with the others!"

As the blue exceed talked them into going inside the store, the two boys were stopped by a stuffy door man with a thin frame and short blonde hair. He also had on obnoxious black framed glasses, a black turtleneck short sleeved sweater and grey slacks with black shoes.

The overly posh man than scowled and turned the Fairies away. "Um, no. Sorry but we can't just let _anyone_ into the _Fleuriste_ garment store."

Natsu then punched his fists together. "Flur- _what_ …? Well lucky for us we ain't 'just anyone'!"

Gray then took off his shirt in the middle of the snowy street and got into his _Ice Make_ stance to join Natsu. "Yea, sounds like you guys need a new door policy."

Happy quickly tried to stop them both. "GUYS, STOP IT! Oh man, where are Lucy and Erza when you need them...and Gray why did you take your shirt off?"

Gray went to answer, but not before the stuffy door man saw the _black guild_ emblem on the Ice Wizard's chest.

"Oh…my…god…you're both from _Fairy Tail_ , aren't you?"

Natsu and Gray looked at each other with a confused look before the man replied.

"I should have known! Oh you're both so fiery and passionate! It can only be _Fairy Tail_!"

The man than grabbed them by the arm and pulled them in. "Oh I am so glad you all came! My name's Geoff, and I will be so very happy to take you on a tour of the _Fleuriste_! We have been waiting for _Fairy Tail_ mages to come try out our new winter line ever since Mr. Thomas came and modeled for us!"

Natsu stopped him there. " _Mr._ Thomas?"

Gray continued. "Yea, and he was with a few others too?"

Geoff stopped and began to whisper. "Ah well I'm not supposed to say _who_ the names were, per say. Some of those little girls you have in Fairy Tail got a little carried away during their photo shoots."

Gray sounded intrigued. "How carried away we talking here?"

The garment worker stepped back and put a finger to his face. "Well one was trying to boss all our employees around, and there was another who kept getting drunk off our sampler bar...and there was another that...!"

"Okay, we get it." gray raised his hands after hearing too much. "That's our guild."

Geoff laughed, and then gave them another sails men's smile. "Yep! And as for Nigel, he just happens to be our boss!"

The Fairies all paused as Happy spoke first. "Wait a minute, _you're_ owned by _A.N.T.?"_

The blonde door man laughed and replied. "Well, duh? Why do you think we have him in most of our ads? I mean sure, the batch of models he brought from that guild of yours are all _total_ knockouts, but we had no choice but to work him ever since he developed our new line of _business wear_."

Gray stuttered. "Business…wear?"

"Yep! It's all over there." Geoff pointed over to a large department of fancy suits and dress cloths as they walked by. " _FT by NT_ they're calling it. It'll be huge at the fashion show next month!"

Natsu shook his head as it began to hurt. "Uh yea sure. Hey listen. We're here in town to go shopping for a few friends. Can ya help us out?"

Geoff smiled. "Well of course! You'll be happy to know you'll get a nice discount as well for showing us you are members of _Fairy Tail_."

Gray smiled. "Hmm, maybe this wasn't such a bad idea, Happy?"

Happy smiled. "Aye! I am pretty smart, aren't I?"

Geoff then stopped them all before they carried on. "Alright! What is this some sort of _Secret Santa_ thing? Oh I love the holidays! Who's first?"

Natsu dug around in his pocket and pulled out a crumbled up photo from a while back. "Here this is the person I'm shopping for. I'm not really sure what she'd like…"

Natsu held out the photo full of _Fairy Tail_ Wizards as he pointed to his secret partner.

"Hmm...I don't remember seeing that face at the shoot..." Geoff squinted his eyes to get a better view, but quickly shot back after collecting the person's full image. "OH GOD! Those things are _huge!_ "

"Huh!?" Natsu grabbed the picture with a confused look on his face as Geoff took him by the arm.

"Well, I'll take _you_ right over to the ladies' department for your special gift. She looks like a real _cutie!_ "

Natsu would have replied, but he felt too awkward as Geoff grabbed him by the arm and took him to the next floor.

Gray and Happy both stood in place as the former spoke first. "Uh…what just happened?"

Happy sighed with defeat, and slowly followed his pink haired friend off to the women's department. "Well, I think Natsu's being bossed around by a crazy person…and this time it isn't Lucy or Erza."

* * *

 **So a few things...**

 **1.) As you saw, the first bit of the chapter featured Lucy and people at the FT guild (about one page on MS Word.) However, the actual chapter focused on Natsu, Gray and Happy (about 4 pages on Word.) This is how the nine character chapters will be organized; a random "pre-group" and a random "actual group" will be shown each chapter.**

 **2.) So we know a few things so far...Asuka has Gildarts, Gray has Bickslow, Juvia has Gray and Lucy has Natsu...but we know nothing about anyone else. Prior to the actual gift exchange I will reveal a few random people's "giftees" and some I will keep a secret. Also, for everyone I put names into a hat and drew them in order to randomize the pairs, then I went back and changed some things around to make sure not every pair was random; so with the gift exchange its about 50% random pairs and 50% big relationships. So hopefully it will be fun!**

 **Today we had Natsu, Gray and Happy, but tomorrow...who knows! Chapter three tomorrow!**

 **(Star Wars comes out this week...I am way too pumped.)**

 **(Edit: So I forgot to mention one last thing, and all the references I made helped remind me. This story is set between the GMG and the Tartaros arcs, sorta near that episode where Juvia celebrates her weird anniversary with Gray, hence the snow.**

 **Also, you will notice me making A LOT of references to not only FT episodes but also my past stories as well. These will include _Oasis and the Battle for Freedom, Operation Vacation_ , and my Pokemon x FT crossover _I Choose You!_ So if you have read my past stories you will certainly enjoy the references, but if you haven't then don't worry, it won't hurt you when reading. At the _VERY_ least you will be able to enjoy the last chapter and gift exchange!)**


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note: Hello! Christmas Break sure feels good...I didn't do anything yesterday. Anyway I hope you're enjoying the story, here is chapter three!**

 **Also, I do not own _Fairy Tail_.**

* * *

Chapter Three - On the Third Day

* * *

"No way, _you're_ actually gonna leave this place for once?"

Laxus Dreyar couldn't help but grin as he noticed Nab Lasaro sitting inside the guild bar and packing up his bags for a brand new road trip.

Nab snapped back with confusion. "Hey! It's not like I sleep here or anything? I have a life outside of Fairy Tail, and I leave here all the time!"

Laxus waved his hands and chuckled at the back lash. "Look, you don't have to tell me. You go do your thing."

The _Lightning Dragon Slayer_ laughed in support of Nab's bold move as he sat at the bar waiting on Mirajane to bring him a new beverage.

Once Mira delivered his order, she looked over to the guild doors and smiled. "Oh I think it's wonderful you all are going shopping together!"

The kind _Takeover_ Mage looked on with glee as Nab was being joined by a rather goofy Vjeeter Ecor as he made for the door, and right behind them came Reedus Jonah as he smiled back to Mira.

"Oh I can't say we're _all_ shopping. These two were the ones who wanted to go to Hargeon and buy their gifts. I just plan on using the nice ocean scenery to _make_ mine!" Reedus smiled again as he held up his famous magical _paint brush and palette_.

Mira giggled with joy. "Oh that's so clever, Reedus! Enjoy your trip!"

As they all left the guild hall, Mira's face quickly went from warm to rather salty as she hit Laxus softly on the arm.

Laxus snapped back. "Hey what did _I_ do?"

Mira sighed. "You know Nab gets uncomfortable with travelling! You shouldn't have said anything."

Laxus paused and rolled his eyes. "Yea, you're right…but it's not my fault this guild has a few _odd balls_ here and there. Which reminds me…" He looked around with suspicion as he went to continue.

"Where did that nut Juvia go, anyway? Two days ago she was yappin' about finding Gray's slip of paper. Now I can't even hear her anywhere."

Mira's charm returned with that thought as she smiled. "Oh, she went up to Mount Hakobe to find her gift."

Laxus cringed. "Geeze, what crazy person did she get to help her climb that death trap…?

Mira looked rather uncomfortable as she continued washing a glass. "Actually, it wasn't Juvia's idea. Her _partner_ volunteered her to..."

* * *

As Mira and Laxus continued enjoying their conversation inside the warmth of the guild, we quickly come to find a rather cold Juvia trekking through the deep snow on the frigid peaks of Mount Hakobe.

With her is none other than Erza Scarlett, who appears to be a woman on a mission in her hunt for her Secret Santa gift.

Erza smiled through the icy air and let out a loud sigh as if this was paradise. "Mhmm Ahhh! Isn't this atmosphere just the greatest?!"

Although her partner was sort of freezing, Juvia seemed to be handling the icy temperatures rather well. "Well, I must say it's not as bad as I thought. I expected it to be colder this time of year."

Erza turned to Juvia and smiled. "Well, I'm glad you said that. Usually when we come up here one of our team members is whining about the cold…and it's usually Lucy."

Juvia grinned and uncontrollably laughed. "Oh well no wonder. She's too week to handle the cold…"

However, Juvia actually finished the rest of her phrase in her mind. "... _And far too weak to handle my icy hunk, Gray!_ "

The Rain Woman began rubbing her hands together with a sinister look in her eyes as Erza spoke up. "Is everything alright, Juvia? You seem to be a bit off."

Juvia snapped back into reality. "Oh I'm perfectly fine! Let us go on with our hunt!"

Erza nodded as they fought through the icy winds once more and climbed further up the mountain.

* * *

As a long hour passed and the wind began to howl, Juvia had to yell in order to communicate with her partner. "SO WHAT ARE WE DOING UP HERE, AGAIN?"

Erza yelled back, but kept her eyes forward. "TRYING TO FIND SOME _OLD FRIENDS!_ "

Juvia felt some sarcasm in that answer, and as they continued walking the mighty _Re-quip_ Mage traced the scene around her for any sign of life she could find, that is until she came across a dimly lit cave just ahead.

She smiled and yelled back to Juvia. "THIS WAY! I'VE FOUND OUR FIRST LEAD!"

Once Erza and Juvia finally made it to the small cave on the side of a large mountain crest, the red haired Titania entered first. Yet as soon as they made it inside, Juvia jumped in fear as she collected the scene.

"VULCANS!?"

As the _Water Mage_ yelled out in fear, a horde of nasty _Mountain Vulcans_ all turned away from their small camp fire and looked over to gaze at the blue haired beauty.

The closest beast then smiled. "Well well well, looks like we got some womens here, now." The large brutish primate stood up and went to march forward, but not before Erza drew her sword.

"Enough! Foolish apes, I have no quarrel with you. I am in need of your brethren, the Gorians of the forest."

The entire group of mountain apes began laughing with rage and amusement; that is except for the one who stood up.

This daunting gorilla now looked like a tiny monkey as soon as he noticed Erza's presence. "NO! She freaky warrior woman who loves strawberries!"

Then, all the other Vulcans registered that thought and began running around in a state of panic.

Juvia's eye began twitching as she looked over to Erza. "Um…I'm lost. Please explain."

Erza sheathed her weapon and grinned. "Well, these silly perverts must have heard of my last visit with their sister-species, the forest vulcans. Panther Lily and I ventured up these mountains not long ago in search of a very delicious and very _rare_ breed of wild strawberries, and I intend to use them in my Secret Santa gift…"

Juvia wanted to collapse to the ground. "You dragged me up to this cave…in search of strawberries…?"

Erza turned and smiled with joy. "Well, yes of course! These are very valuable, and I'm sure my gift recipient would _love_ to try them in a cake or two!"

Juvia eventually _did_ collapse to the ground and curled up into a ball. "No wonder my Love Rival is so insane…I would be too if I had to go on these ruthless missions with _her_ all the time."

Erza ignored Juvia and grabbed her by the collar of her coat, yanking the Water Mage back to her feet. "Come on, we can't let them get away."

Juvia landed and shook her head as she geared herself up for an attack. "Right!"

The two fierce warrior women then unleashed a full range of magical attacks on the poor defenseless Vulcans, and as the dust flew high and the fighting became too intense to see, the chief Vulcan tried crawling away.

Sadly for him, Erza caught him by the leg and Re-quipped into her daunting _Purgatory Armor_ in order to deliver the most frightening threat imaginable.

"Now, refer me to your brethren, and I might let you keep these cowardly limbs you call legs."

The chief snapped around and began kissing Erza's feet as he pleaded for mercy. "Yes, anything for Warrior Woman!"

* * *

After a short display of fierce battle and embarrassing cowardice, Erza and Juvia waited for the last storm to clear before they went in their new direction.

Juvia scratched her head and explained the thought currently stuck on her mind. "Well, they said your forest vulcans are right at the foot of this peak."

Erza looked on with determination. "True. Let's hope our information is correct."

Juvia then paused before she went to reply. "So, this strawberry sounds pretty rare."

Erza kept marching as she responded. "Yes, what about it?"

Juvia continued. "Well, do you mind if I ask who it's for? It must be an important person if you're willing to go through all this trouble."

Erza stopped and scratched her chin. "Actually, my selection for the gift exchange was Droy…I just noticed he seemed to enjoy his fair share of food these days, so I figured I would make him a tasty holiday treat."

Juvia looked confused. "Hold on, do you even know Droy very well?"

Erza looked back to Juvia. "Well, now that you mention it, we really haven't ever held a lengthy conversation. Except for the time I was over intoxicated on that training resort trip…"

Juvia silently laughed. "Um…I'm not sure that counts."

Erza smiled back. "Well, you agreed to join me on this quest. I imagine you must have an important member to find a gift for?" Even though Juvia never revealed her giftee, Erza knew _exactly_ who the water mage had received in the secret santa gift exchange.

"Um…well actually I drew _Gray's_ name." Juvia tried to sound innocent, even though she nearly assaulted Lucy just to get his piece of paper. She then continued. "Haha, I guess I'm pretty lucky."

Erza closed her eyes and smiled. "Yes, quite lucky…you know, I've tried talking with Gray about this whole… _thing_ he does to you."

Juvia heart sank. "Um, I'm not sure what you're talking about?"

Erza looked puzzled. "Really...? Even after that whole anniversary thing you tried celebrating?"

Juvia looked up and let a slight brush of air roll over her face. "Oh yea...he didn't react the way I would have liked..."

Erza continued. "And there's also that moment you had where you saved him in Oasis on that mission with Nigel, and the time you two _shared a_ _being_ in that crazy video game Nigel had us test for his company, and the time…"

"OKAY! I get it, we do spend a lot of time together…and _he_ does tend to treat me differently in each setting." Juvia didn't want to continue. "It's just…he's still confused, is all."

Erza took in a long breath and looked around as she explained her side of the story. "Juvia, it's been over a year, and he's still confused? Think about it. You two have shared some important moments with each other over the past year, and I imagine that's true on _both_ sides of the relationship." The red haired woman then turned around and kept her eyes peeled as she tried carrying the conversation.

"Do you remember what you got him for that anniversary a few weeks back?"

Juvia paused and thought about her recent 413th anniversary of meeting Gray. "Well, everyone suggested some rather colorful gifts, but a lot of them were _homemade_ …"

Juvia stopped on that specific word as large hearts filled her eyes. She then made her way to a very large chunk of solid ice that stuck out of the snow.

"I _have_ been practicing my ice-sculpting lessons!" Juvia crept over to the large glacier as she began ranting about ice-sculpting lessons that _never even took place_.

Meanwhile, as a very short fuse of delusion was going out in Juvia's brain; Erza ignored it and went into her own world of crazy as she smiled and walked forward with hunger in her eyes. "Well there you go…now, I'll be _right_ back."

The mighty knight held a sinister expression on her face as she spotted a crowd of forest Vulcans off in the distance, and there the reckless mage laughed as she drew her sword and charged ahead for a second ridiculous attack.

* * *

 **Well those two were a little off the chain...they almost made _me_ feel crazy. I hope tomorrow's group is a little more "wound down." Chapter 4 tomorrow!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note: Here is the fourth chapter. The Star Wars countdown continues...I mean the Christmas Countdown continues. Silly me!**

 **Also, I do not own _Fairy Tail_**

* * *

Chapter Four - On the Fourth Day

* * *

The guild hall was rather empty on the morning of December the 16th. Most of the members were either out shopping for presents or back home crafting their gifts for the _Christmas Eve_ gift exchange, but some decided to save the shopping for a later date.

Here, we find Macao Conbolt enjoying a nice glass of ale with his two friends Wakaba Mine and Cana Alberona as they lounge at the guild bar.

Macao grabbed his beverage and carried on with the conversation. "So you're sayin' Nigel's _making_ his gift for Secret Santa?"

"Pff-ff Yea!" Cana tried to hold her drink down without laughing. "The idiot wants to prove everyone wrong about his money. I imagine he'll probably pull the plug if his 'craft' gets too bad…he's not the most _artistic_ guy in the world."

Wakaba began chuckling as he pulled his pipe out of his mouth. "Oh geeze, the poor guy's gone delusional. He should know everyone in here is greedier than your average banker. I'm sure no one would mind him spending a few extra Jewell on their gift."

Macao then laughed as he held his hand up behind his head. "Yea, but none of them would ever care to admit it."

Cana went to further comment on Nigel's foolish behavior, but she was quickly silenced as the guild doors swung open, and in walked Gray Fullbuster and Natsu Dragneel, and over their shoulders Happy the cat flew in with a smile on his face.

"Boy, are you sure those cloths weren't good enough, Natsu? They were _really_ over priced, after all!" Happy giggled as he reminded Natsu of his large gift basket of goodies back at their home.

Natsu shouted with pride. "Nope! I can't quit now, otherwise Erza or Gajeel will one-up me!"

Cana rubbed her head as the three guests came over to the bar. "You know I was joking about the whole 'contest thing' the other day, right?"

"Yea well, don't tell him that now." Gray sighed and waved at Mira for bar service, and then turned to answer Cana's question. "Where is everyone, anyway?"

Macao chose to explain. "Well, most people are still out shopping for gifts."

Wakaba continued. "Yea, actually you just missed Wendy, Carla and Lucy. They left for Crocus just this morning."

Happy grinned. "Oh those copy cats! I wonder if they…?"

The little exceed was quickly silenced as Natsu jumped up with panic. "HOLD ON WE STILL HAVE TIME!? I gotta hurry up and get more things!" He then turned around and ran as fast as he could out the door.

Everyone sat there with confused looks on their face as Cana spoke up and grabbed her glass.

"Ya see? It's that kinda crap that makes me drink!"

* * *

As the guild hall appeared to be rowdy as ever; Lucy, Wendy and Carla were just stepping off their train in the luxurious station at Crocus.

Lucy smiled as she ran out into the city. "Ah it feels good to be back here in Crocus! I can't wait to go shopping for our gifts!"

Carla followed and put on a pink snow cap as she began discussing the cold. "Yes, well I hope it's worth it. I'm not even sure I want to go shopping in _this_ weather."

Wendy followed her exceed friend with a sad look on her face. "Oh, Carla don't say that! That's not fair to the person you chose from the bowl!"

Carla rolled her eyes as she began remembering her _mysterious recipient_. "Is that so? Well I can assure you he is _not_ worth the effort…"

Wendy chose to smile anyway. "Awe, that's not very nice. I'm gonna try and go all-out for _my person_! What about you, Lucy?"

"Um, well let's just say my gift needs to be pretty clever..." Trying to keep her secret secure, Lucy wanted to avoid spilling the beans that she held the responsibility of shopping for her thick-headed friend, Natsu. "Now I wonder if we can find a…hey, is that Cana and Erza on a billboard?"

Once the three Fairy Girls were drawn in by a similar ad that caught the eyes of Natsu, Gray and Happy they all made their way to the ever growing garment district of Crocus

Lucy smiled as the passed by the lovely architecture of the downtown region. "Ah this takes me back to the days of the Grand Magic Games! Remember the time we left the party early and went around touring the city?"

Wendy smiled with glee as she remembered the scene. "Oh yea I remember…that was pretty awkward, actually."

Carla then chimed in. "Pretty awkward? Pretty ridiculous if you ask me! All those stupid people wearing disguises to trick pedestrians into thinking they were the real _Fairy Tail_? It was totally absurd."

Lucy then remembered the end result from their fight with the goons and smiled. "Yea, but we showed them what the real _Fairy Tail_ was capable of. Now, let's find that store."

As they made it down the broad street they came across the exact same clothing center that Natsu and company found three days before.

They all walked forward as Geoff the doorman came up and greeted them from inside the building. "Oh my god, it's more _Fairies_! YAY! I'M SO PROUD YOU ALL CAME!"

Lucy and the others cringed at the confusing scene. "Um, you know us?"

Geoff laughed and waved them in. "Well duh? You're the friends of those boys who came in here the other day! _Nathan_ and _Gary_?...Tsk I can't remember their names, but they had the most _adorable_ cat!"

Lucy and Wendy sank low as Carla slapped her own face and commented. "Yes, that would be them."

Geoff continued. "Also, I noticed your guild emblems. As we told your friends, here at the luxurious _Fleuriste_ ; anyone who's friends with Nigel Thomas is a friend of ours!"

Lucy smiled and instantly felt a little more comfortable. "Well, that's reassuring. Excuse us, but we're here to shop for our guild's Secret Santa Gift Exchange. Could you…?"

Geoff lite up with more joy. "Oh I know already! You guys have come to get your secret recipients some _fresh_ new threads for the holiday season!" He then put his arm around Lucy and smiled as he took her to the women's department. "And might I say you need to get yourself a new outfit with _that_ rockin' bod! In fact you look just like..."

Lucy shivered as the odd employee walked her to the wrong section. "Um, we're actually going the wrong way. I'm shopping for a _boy_ …Also why am I doing this right now!?"

Geoff smiled and turned them around. "Oh my mistake, why didn't you say so!? You wanna go shopping for a nice 'strapping young man!' We have _all_ the latest fashion for any guy here!"

Lucy then thought about Natsu dressed up in fancy cloths and suits, and immediately shook her head. "Well…on second thought, maybe cloths aren't exactly the thing for _this_ person."

As the two left, Wendy then chased after Lucy and Geoff with a worried expression. "Wait, _I_ need help too! I need to go shopping for a _girl!_ "

Meanwhile Carla rolled her eyes and instantly spotted a fancy white tuxedo dressed on a large manikin sitting out on the main display.

The little white cat then slowly crept over and began pricing the individual pieces. "Well, this may be easier than I thought…"

* * *

As they finally finished up with a rather awkward afternoon of shopping, Wendy and Carla both walked out of the clothing boutique with full shopping bags, while Lucy still came out with empty hands.

Wendy smiled and twirled around in the falling snow as she celebrated her recent purchase. "I'm so glad I found a nice gift for my secret person! Ooo she'll be so happy, can Christmas just hurry up and come already!?"

Lucy smiled and supported her blue haired friend's recent purchase. "That's really exciting, Wendy! I'm glad you found a gift."

Carla then looked at Lucy's empty hands with concern. "Lucy, are you okay? You seem to have walked out without buying a present?"

Lucy then turned away and blushed as she tried to read more shop signs down the street. "Um, well let's just say my person isn't a dressy type…"

Wendy smiled. "Oh that's okay. We can go try the _magic shop?_ "

Lucy smiled, but came up with a new plan. "That's not a bad Idea. Why don't you two go down that street and find a good shop, and I can back track this way!"

Wendy smiled as she grabbed Carla's hand and walked away. "Okay, we'll meet back here if we find something."

As Lucy made it away from her friends, she decided to summon her good friend, Plue from the _spirit world_. She tried using his company to find a large magic shop at the center of town.

"Well Plue, thanks for keeping me company. I thought I had forgotten where the Crocus Magic Store was!"

"Puun-Puun!" Plue yelled out with joy as he followed his master into the large doors of the shop, holding a large festive-red lollipop tightly in both hands.

Lucy searched all over the shelves for the perfect gift, and just as she went to give up, a small orange glow caught her eye from the top shelf.

"Huh, I wonder what that could be?" She pondered as a nosy store clerk came up to her side.

"Oh that one just made it onto the shelves not too long ago! Miss are you familiar with what happened after the Grand Magic Games?"

Lucy tried to repress the horrible experience of the _Dragon Festival_ and the Eclipse Gate fiasco. "Only too well…"

The clerk laughed. "Well, that lacrima flame came from some _random being_ in the sky. No one knows what caused it, but it appears to be a small _eternal flame_ of pure magic energy. We found it right after the event, and just received a nice glass case for it in time for the holidays!"

" _Atlas Flame!_ " Lucy silently remembered the name of the fiery dragon Natsu road on during the dragon attack and then smiled.

"It's _too_ perfect! I'll take it!"

The clerk laughed as he used a special magic ring to bring it down. "Okay, miss we'll ring it up at the front."

 _~Once they made it to the register…_

"Did you say One _Million_ Jewell!?" Lucy wanted to faint from the sound of the price tag before she tried her Plan B. She remembered the fact that the store clerk at the clothing store knew of Nigel because of his businesses, and that gave her a slight idea to try her luck here as well.

"Hehe...I don't suppose you've heard of _Nigel Thomas,_ have you?"

"Hey, it's Lucy!"

Lucy snapped over to the door to find Max Alors waving at her with a smile. He was also being joined by Warren Rocko, Laki Olietta, and the co-bartender of _Fairy Tail_ Kinana.

Lucy replied with a smile of her own. "Oh hey guys! Doing some group shopping, I see?"

"Yea, you can say that…" Max went to reply, but not before he noticed Lucy's _fiery red_ purchase. "...hey that looks like _a hot little gift_ you're buying there. I wonder who _that's_ for?"

Lucy froze and shoved the little glass flame behind the side of the register. "Oh, um…that's not what I'm…"

"Okay miss I had a talk with my manager and your 'Mr Thomas' through a comm lacrima! I guess this Nigel guy is willing to comp you on the price, so you're all set to by your flame lacrima!"

Lucy reluctantly took her new present in a bag and fell to the floor as Max continued to laugh.

"Man, you're buying a gift for the perfect person _and_ you're mooching off Nigel?" Max winked with sarcasm. "I think we'll just let you collect yourself for a bit. See you back at the guild, Lucy!" The four wizards all chuckled as they passed by the poor blonde Spirit Mage moping on the ground.

Lucy stared right into the floor. "Yea, sure…if I ever decide show my face there, again."

"Puun! Puun-Puun!" Plue disagreed with her moping and held the bag up with smiles as he danced around her in a happy yet slightly mocking fashion.

* * *

 **God, pick yourself up, Lucy! So mopey...even Plue is enjoying himself!**

 **I had a little reference to the first chapters of the manga spin off _Fairy Girls_ in there if anyone caught that. **

**Either way a new group and chapter 5 is out tomorrow!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note: Hell! Great day today! If you are a regular one my page, or have read some of my past stories you may or may not be familiar with my constant b*tching and mentioning of my horrible college semester this past fall.**

 **Well like I said at the beginning of the story, my college semester is officially over, and I am happy to announce that not only did my grades come back, but I managed to make my college's Dean's List this semester! IT'S A CHRISTMAS MIRACLE! A very _VERY_ horrible advanced cartography class was keeping me from thinking positive the entire fall, and I was literally preparing myself for the F (FYI that's my major so that would have been very bad to get an F in that class...) However, by some stroke of luck, or by the hand of God, or Santa, or Mavis or whoever not only did I pass the class, I managed to get a F*CKING A- in it too!? If Cana and Makarov were real people I would share a drink in the guild hall with them I'm so excited!**

 ***Cough* *Cough*...Apologies for the annoying bits from my personal life, but I was too excited to conceal it...now, back to FT Christmas!**

 **Also, I do not own _Fairy Tail_.**

* * *

Chapter Five - On the Fifth Day

* * *

As Lucy sat in embarrassment from seeing her fellow guild members just moments ago, her tiny Celestial friend, Plue attempted to drag her to her feet and on to their next destination.

"Puun-Puun!" Plue cried out as he tugged on the collar of Lucy's winter coat, but Lucy failed to move even an inch upward as the _little dog_ fell to the ground in exhaustion.

"Puun…" Plue looked sad and pathetic as he almost managed to drop his lollipop on the ground in his struggle to help his master.

Lucy looked up and over to her tired friend. "Thanks, Plue…but I think I'm just gonna sit here for a little while longer."

"But Princess, you're blocking the line."

Lucy snapped as she heard a very familiar voice talking from behind. As she turned around the _Celestial Wizard_ then noticed _Virgo the Maiden_ was standing in front of a long line of angry customers waiting to buy their gifts.

Lucy looked on with horror. "Oh great! Now I've made the _whole store_ mad!"

Virgo's expression never changed as she bent over and picked Lucy up off the ground, and cradled the blonde in her arms as they both left for the door.

"Don't worry, I relieved _Nicola_ of his duties, Princess." Virgo explained as Lucy then noticed Plue was now gone, and before she could call his name, Virgo replied. "Tell me, what is the matter?"

Lucy looked away as she answered. "Oh, it's nothing. I have _one_ job for this stupid gift exchange and I can even do _that_ right. Now half the guild is gonna know whose name I have, and the other half will know I mooched off Nigel's credit tab at the magic store just to buy my gift!"

She moaned with an annoyed voice and began complaining even further. "OH WHY DID I GET STUCK WITH SHOPPING FOR _HIM!?_ "

Virgo quickly caught on, and let out a tiny smile. "Ah I see. So you _do_ have feelings for Sir Natsu."

"HOLD ON I NEVER EVEN SAID A NAME!?" Lucy jumped out of Virgo's arms with pure shock and embarrassment as she hit the hard cobble ground below.

"OUCH!"

The blonde wizard then stood up and gave Virgo a dirty look as she crossed her arms and tried hiding the faint blush of red on her cheeks. "And for _your_ information, I _don't_...I just need to buy him a Christmas Gift for the Guild Gift Exchange."

"Ah, well apologies Princess." Virgo continued as she looked up towards the night's sky. "It appears to be getting late. Perhaps tomorrow _I_ can be of some assistance…?"

As Lucy and Virgo continued their conversation they eventually found Wendy and Carla. Soon after the group of girls quickly made way for a nearby inn and rested for the night.

* * *

The next morning, we find a whole new set of Fairies touring the capital city.

"Agh…why did Salamander have to go and give me that stupid motion sickness crap?" Gajeel Redfox poured out of a new train car as he complained about the bumpy ride into town.

Behind him, his black exceed Panther Lily followed as he shook his head. "Well, I'm not really sure you can blame that one on Natsu. If anything _you_ should have been smarter and taken this trip with Wendy and her _Troia Magic_."

Gajeel regained the strength in his stomach as he bent down and scolded his partner. "Look, I don't need the lip, Little Man...and since _I'm_ buying _your_ gift this year, I'd pipe down if I were you!"

Lily looked blankly back at his Dragon Slaying companion. "...You _do_ know you weren't supposed to tell me that, right?"

Gajeel stood tall and waved his hand as he walked away. "Ah, why do I care? You know my gift will be unbeatable, anyway."

He then paused and smiled as Lily followed. "So which moron did you get stuck shopping for?"

Lily tried staying quiet as a cheeky smile crept across his feline face. "Well, it isn't you, that's for sure…but don't worry, you'll find this person to be just as _important_ …"

Gajeel stopped and thought about it before he looked back. "Whoa there, Lily. Let's not get all smart with that mouth of yours. If you're talking about who I _think_ it is, then we may have a…"

"HEY! It's Gajeel and Lily!"

The two warriors both turned and looked down the street to find a cheery Levy McGarden running their way while waving her hand. Behind her followed a very quick Jet, and a very slow Droy.

Levy spoke up as soon as she caught up to the two partners. "So, when did you guys get in town?"

Lily smiled. "Actually we just made it. Yourselves?"

Jet smiled with pride. "We've been here for a few days, now! Thanks to my quick timing on getting good train tickets, we managed to get here before most of the big crowds."

Droy rolled his eyes and enjoyed his carry-out meal. "Yea, well my knowledge of Crocus found us a good hotel to stay at…"

Levy smiled and waved them down. "Ah, guys you're both important! So Gajeel, you find a gift yet…?"

Gajeel went to answer, but stopped before he smiled down at Lily. "Actually, I think that's _private information_. So I'm just gonna have to pass on answerin' that for ya."

Lily grinned as soon as he caught on. "Yes, it would be unwise to spill the secret right now…"

Levy slowly followed up as she began showing a tiny bit of red on her cheeks. "Oh…w-well it's cool. I totally understand. Um, Jet, Droy. I think it may be a good time to move on…"

Jet followed her with confusion. "Why? He never told us who he got?"

Levy snapped back and grabbed the Running Mage's hand. "NOT RIGHT NOW JET!...Can't you see it's _clearly_ classified…"

Droy looked confused as well, until he noticed the smiles on Gajeel and Lily's faces.

"Oh…you guys are awful."

Droy shook his head and followed his two _Shadow Gear_ teammates as they quickly turned the corner.

Lily turned to Gajeel and smiled. "So, now we have to act like _you're_ shopping for Levy?"

Gajeel patted Lily on the head and kept walking. "Heh. See, I told ya this trip would be fun..."

* * *

As Gajeel and Lily kept marching the other way, we return to _Team Shadow Gear_ , who find themselves standing inside a very large and elaborate book store.

Levy stood in line with Jet as she held a very large and luxurious atlas in her hands. Meanwhile Droy waited by the door to read some of the sample books on display.

Jet looked over at an unusually quiet Levy and smiled. "So, the person you're shopping for would like an _atlas_ for Christmas?"

Levy smiled back and patted the front cover of the large book of maps. "Yea, I guess he'll like it. I sorta got stumped when trying to shop for him."

Jet laughed and looked around as he continued. "I getcha. And you guys are cool with following me all the way down to Hargeon for my gift search?"

Levy smiled and gave him a supportive answer. "Well of course! That is if they don't have what you're looking for in Crocus…"

Jet waved her question away before he fell into a trap. "Ah, let's just say it'll be easier that way…so about that whole thing with Gajeel and Lily?"

Levy instantly froze and quickly turned away. "Yea, haha. That was _pretty_ awkward…"

Jet shook his head. "Wow, Levy you _do_ know Gajeel basically confirmed he was buying your gift, right?"

Levy tried to hide her blushing cheeks before she went to reply. "Yea, well who cares? Either way I'm sure whatever he gets will be fine…even if it's not for me."

* * *

 _~Back to Gajeel and Pantherlily._

"AH, see that Lily!? Look at the size of that thing!"

The two warriors stood inside a large sporting goods store as they tested the large weight lifting equipment set up on display.

"Yes, I agree. These are quite impressive." Lily morphed into his combat form in order to test the machines out himself.

Gajeel smiled and waved his hands at Lily to turn around. "Okay you numskull turn away while I pick yours out!"

Lily snapped back with confusion. "SERIOUSLY, GAJEEL!? How do you expect to carry that thing back to Magnolia?"

Gajeel turned around with a nonchalant look on his face. "What? These guys do shipping and handling, right? They can take care of it."

Lily face palmed and continued. "More importantly why did you want _me_ to go shopping with you, even if _I_ was the person you were shopping for?"

Gajeel grabbed the price tag and walked towards the registers. "Well duh? Cause you have no other friends in the guild!"

Lily nearly walked out after handling too much stupid from Gajeel. "Sometimes I wonder how he makes friends of his own…"

* * *

As those two were enjoying their afternoon, the sun slowly faded into the horizon, and nighttime came again.

Levy, Jet and Droy were walking back from a quick dinner before they made their way for their last night in the hotel.

As they walked along a busy street, Jet looked forward and saw some more familiar faces. "Hold on, I think I see Max and Laki!"

Droy smiled as he finished the observation. "Yea, they're with Warren and Kinana too!"

Levy smiled and walked forward with her two teammates. "Oh this will be fun! Let's see what they have!"

As they two groups quickly met up, Levy hid her large bookstore bag behind her as she addressed her other friends. "Hey gang, it's good to see ya!"

Max spoke up with a smile. "Hey, first we find Lucy at the magic store, then Gajeel and Lily down the street, and now we run into _Team Shadow Gear!_ "

Laki also smiled as she joined in. "Yea, I guess the whole guild went shopping in Crocus from the looks of things."

Droy looked puzzled as he asked Kinana a question. "Hey Kinana, how did you find time to leave the bar?"

Kinana gave him a friendly smile. "Oh, Mira and I are taking turns for shopping days. I got the first few days, and she'll get the last. We figured that'd be the best way to do it."

Warren smiled and looked at all their shopping bags. "So, looks like you guys got a big haul. Find anything good?"

Levy grinned with excitement. "Sorry, all we can say is that Christmas will be a blast!"

Max joined in again. "That's good to hear! Glad to see you guys actually have bags. Gajeel and Lily weren't even carrying anything when we saw them before."

Jet and Droy bit their tongues, but Levy forced herself to ask Max a question. "Oh, well I wonder where they went shopping…?"

Max continued. "Eh, I dunno. Gajeel did say his gift was too big to carry back to the guild; so I guess he paid _extra_ to have them deliver it."

Levy froze in place and nearly turned beet red. "W-well, you don't say?"

Laki then looked concerned. "Yea…hey Levy you're not looking so good. Is the cold weather too much for ya?"

Levy sighed and pulled up the hood to her dark orange winter coat. "Haha, uh yea…let's just go with the weather."

* * *

 **Levy's so adorable...and Gajeel is so ridiculous.**

 **FYI to save any confusion Gajeel is shopping for Lily, and Lily is shopping for Levy, but Levy _thinks_ Gajeel is the one shopping for her...I imagine you all got that but it doesn't hurt for me to lay it out.**

 **Chapter 6 tomorrow!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Note: Okay, here is chapter six! This day is exciting, but I can't remember why...anyway here's the chapter!**

 **Now I'm gonna be honest with you. This chapter is going to have _A LOT_ of references from my previous stories. I began writing on this website back in August/September, and 16 weeks later I'm sitting here with 6 completed stories and one in the works, with 3 more in waiting! I really have enjoyed this fall of writing, and I used this chapter as a micro-recognition to all my fan fic work. Therefore, this chapter is basically my gift to me, and any reader who is familiar with my previous works.**

 **However, if you want, you may be able to skip a good portion of the chapter (Honestly I forget how pivotal it is to the grand scheme of the gift exchange) but if not stick around and join me as we look back on my 16 weeks of writing! :D (Tomorrow's chapter will feature some more regular FT characters.)**

 *****EITHER WAY THE FOLLOWING CHAPTER CONTAINS _MAJOR SPOILERS_ FROM THREE OF _MY PREVIOUS WORKS_. PROCEED WITH CAUTION!*****

 **Also, I do not own _Fairy Tail_.**

* * *

Chapter Six - On the Sixth Day

* * *

It is now December the 18th, and the Eve of Christmas is slowly coming up. As the entire Fairy Tail Guild rushes around every corner of the kingdom we find several members have finally made it back to town.

Here we arrive at the _Fairy Hills_ female dormitory at the western portion of Magnolia, an just as the sun rises over the hills, Wendy Marvel and her white exceed Carla finally made it back from their early week in Crocus.

"Well that was worth the trip. I think I'm all set for the gift exchange, now!" Wendy smiled with joy as she held her large garment bag from the _Fleuriste_ clothing store.

Meanwhile, Carla was carrying her own large bag as she made for the door. "Yes well, I have had enough of this cold weather. If I see any more snow or ice today I'll…"

As the two girls opened the door they were greeted by a bizarre sight that forced Carla to end her angry thought.

Juvia Lockster had commandeered a large portion of the lobby to design what appeared to be an obnoxious sized ice sculptor of her beloved friend, Gray Fullbuster.

Carla was speechless as Wendy spoke up with an awkward pause. "Oh…it's an _ice_ sculpture. That's pretty clever, Juvia…"

Carla rolled her eyes. "Yes, although I'm not sure _why_ you chose to produce that monstrosity here in the lobby…"

"Teehee, oh I'm so glad you both like it!" Juvia turned and giggled as she wiped her brow. "I guess Gray's handsome no matter _what_ material he's made out of!"

Wendy's eye started to twitch. "We never said we…"

"Juvia, is someone there? Oh, hello Wendy, Carla. How was your week of shopping?"

Standing in the door frame as none other than Erza Scarlet dressed in a white chef's hat and apron as she began stirring a bowl of frothy batter.

Wendy commented back. "Um, Erza are you _baking_?"

Erza giggled. "Why yes, I must admit I am! I need to bake several batches of cakes in order to get the recipe down just right for the gift exchange." She then started humming as she turned back into the kitchen to continue with her cooking lesson.

Wendy was finally caught speechless as Carla shook her head and spoke up once again.

"See Wendy…this is why I told you not to go the _homemade_ route…"

* * *

As the girls back at _Fairy Hills_ tried to enjoy their mid-December day, just across town on the far eastern hills of Magnlia stood the tall and luxurious home of Nigel Thomas.

Here, we find Nigel and friendly drinker from Fairy Tail, Cana Alberona, both enjoying a nice afternoon together as they discuss the Guild's plans for Christmas.

"Pff, that thing looks ridiculous!" Cana tried not to fall over as she began laughing at Nigel's attempt at "the homemade route."

Nigel on the other hand wasn't taking her bate. "Hold on, I gotta smooth it out first… _geeze_." He held a mound of clay over a recently purchased sculpting table as they both sat in a very large room just adjacent to the living room. The walls were filled with books and notebooks, and there appeared to be boxes scattered in three of the four corners of the room.

Nigel regained his concentration and sarcasm. "Why _buy_ something…when you can just… _make_ something…better!" He carefully smoothed the edges of what appeared to be a clay pot with bizarre designs on the side.

Despite his best efforts, Nigel never was the "artistic type." He was numbers and money growing up, and picked up magic after becoming wealthy, but the poor businessman never mastered the true skills of the _classical arts_.

At the same time, Cana constantly made sure to remind him of his lack-luster abilities. "Is that supposed to be _her_ on the side!? It looks like a stick figure!" She clutched a brand new glass of red wine and tried not to spill it as she continued laughing at his attempts of crafting art.

Nigel stopped to take a break and leaned over to grab his own glass of wine off the table. "Yea, well I don't see _you_ worrying about a gift over there, Miss 'I've already won this game?'" He wiped his brow with a rag as he continued.

"Come to think of it, you haven't even left town. What, are you doing over here anyway? Shouldn't you have a gift to buy?"

"Hey, why don't you just worry about your little _project_ here, and let me do my own thing." Cana laughed and threw a crumpled up piece of paper into the rim of the sorry excuse for a pot that Nigel was trying to craft.

Nigel rolled his eyes and pulled the paper out, and then un-crumpled it and read what it was. As soon as he deciphered the title, he smiled.

"Hey, look what you just found." The wealthy businessman smiled and threw it back to her.

Cana kept a puzzled look on her face before she opened up the balled-up document and read it aloud.

"Oh, this is the list the Magic Council used to decide who would go with you to _Oasis_." She smiled and read the names of all her friends off the list.

"Wow, this really wasn't that long ago…" She laughed as she took a drink from her glass.

Nigel agreed and leaned back onto a table from his stool. "Yea, you remember how scared you guys were going in? Pretty funny stuff."

Cana rolled her eyes. "Hey, don't rope me with the rest of those losers. I actually _knew_ what we were getting into. Besides, _you_ were the one who was all antsy and anal about everything going in!" She laughed and tried throwing another ball into the pot.

He laughed in agreement and held up his hands. "Okay, so I sorta 'fanboy-ed' after finding the guild, and sue me if I wanted to make sure everyone was safe for the mission. It was pretty cool for me, not to mention how scary it was to think you all could have died in that horrible place."

Cana smiled again. "Yea, but we lived. Hell, you even got a _fancy new spell_ out of the whole ordeal. Speaking of Oasis, you ever try to keep in touch with that Eve girl?"

Cana asked Nigel about his former colleague and the new chairman of Oasis, Eve Wattson. Nigel smiled and nodded. "Yea, we still keep in touch. She's always asking about everyone from the guild. I guess she has that Oasis place whipped into tip top shape now."

He then switched his thought and shook his head. "Damn, looking back we _really_ never shoulda gone inside there..."

Cana smiled. "Yea…but the whole vacation that came afterwards was a real blast. _Good times_."

Nigel chuckled as he thought about her words. "Oh yea, that was the highlight of my entrance into Magnolia. That trip was something…" He began remembering their week-long trip down to the Akane Resort and rewarding the Oasis team for their hard efforts on the mission. "I just wish we coulda got the exceeds in. I always feel bad about that."

Cana laughed. "HA! Why? If it wasn't for them being outside the resort we would have never known about that creepy Maker Magic guild or whoever those nut jobs were!"

Nigel raised his drink. "Ah, good point, good point…still...do you ever think things got out of hand with the others? The people who shared rooms together were very...interesting."

Nigel and Cana paused to reflect on that question, and soon after they both looked at each other and laughed. "HA! _NAH!_ "

Cana then took the conversation. "Those idiots needed more time together, anyway. There's too much angst and tension between some of the guild members, it drives me crazy sometimes."

Nigel grinned. "Yea, it's like a damn high school. I mean…am I crazy or did some of the roommates actually work together?"

This time Cana raised her glass. "I think so. By the way you're right about that 'high school' thing. You shoulda been there for the Grand Magic Games."

Nigel sat up with excitement. "Really, why's that?" He never liked reminding himself that he missed out watching the excitement of the Games, and it bothered him even more that he never got to watch _Fairy Tail_ competing during the days of the tournament.

Cana carried on. "Eh, just some of the girls really went nuts when they watched the fights…First there was the whole thing with Gray and Juvia during the first game, then Erza had to sit through Jellal getting beat by Jura…and don't even get me started on Levy and Lucy."

"Well, here I'm getting you started." Nigel grabbed a second full bottle of wine off the nearby desk and tossed it over to her. "You were saying?"

She sarcastically nodded and cracked open the wine, keeping the entire bottle for herself this time. "Well Levy's thing was pretty simple. Gajeel had his two big fights with Rogue, and Levy really went nuts while she watched it. Couldn't even keep her eyes off the action…but _Lucy_ …She had the whole ordeal with losing vs _Raven Tail_ , and then she had to go through that horrible scene with Minerva in the _Naval Battle_ that sent her to the infirmary…and then I heard she had this little 'click' with Natsu."

"Ahh..." Nigel laughed as he picked up his remaining glass. " _Go on_?"

Cana rolled her eyes and smiled. "Well all's I can say is that Natsu skipped out on the last day of fights just to save Lucy from the kingdom's guards."

Nigel collected that. "Awe,how...romantic? God, your guild is angsty."

Cana threw the wine cork at his head, and Nigel swatted it away and laughed while he jokingly shielded his 'masterpiece' clay pot.

"Whoa, _artist at work_ , here." Nigel went to joke further, but let his guest carry on.

Cana kicked back and gathered a full smile for this memory. "What about that time we tested that _stupid game_ for your company?"

Nigel paused and looked her way. "Um, I don't recall any _stupid_ games…I _do_ recall my awesome rendition of _Pokémon_ created in an easy-to-use virtual environment, with super amazing graphics and out of this world AI." He said while sounding like a sarcastic pitchman for his own product.

Cana shook her head. "Yea, a virtual environment that almost _killed_ Lucy and the others. You still trying to make that sequel?"

Nigel looked guilty as he slowly continued molding his masterpiece. "Um, yea…I'm working on that…still, you gotta admit the graphics in the first one were pretty amazing."

Cana rolled her eyes. "Yea, well the _real world_ has better ones. I did like the little monsters Lucy got to play with, and the ones the rest of the guys turned into were pretty hilarious to watch."

Nigel slowly remembered their whole ordeal with the X&Y demo as it flashed back through his memory. "Yea, Natsu went a little overboard every now and then, but in the end I had a blast!"

Cana nearly fell off her seat as she thought about her next comment. "Remember when you and Happy made non-stop fun of Lucy for crushing on that rival kid, Calem?"

Nigel laughed with her. "Yea, I felt like an ass since I tried keeping Happy quiet the whole game…I shoulda just let him run his mouth more; his one-liners are gold!"

"Nah, they're more like silver. When he's _drunk_ they're gold." Cana remembered feeding the poor cat some wine right before they poured it all over the video game and caused it to malfunction during Lucy's fifth gym battle. "By the way…nothing happened while you were out that one day for business."

Nigel rolled his eyes and continued creating his pot. "Trust me, I know what happened…Man, I can't believe we made it out of that whole ordeal; it feels like it was just yesterday."

Cana paused and reflected with him. "Yea…I guess you've been in Magnolia longer then I thought."

Nigel smiled and grabbed his drink. "Yep, and let's hope I stay around for the future."

He held the glass over to Cana's reach as she held her's out to meet him in midair, and as the two glasses rang of off one another the two brown haired wizard downed their glasses of wine all in one go.

Cana whipped her mouth and laughed. "Wow we finished two bottles already? We're on a holiday roll, here!" She grabbed the two empty bottles and went for the door.

"Opps, I'll be right back." Can sort of stumbled in a buzzed state of mind as she smiled and walked out of the room.

"Yea...come drink my booze while you have an entire guild hall full of it back home." Nigel laughed and ceased his molding as he stopped to collect the scene around him. If it wasn't for his new friends in _Fairy Tail_ , Nigel would have never moved to Magnolia, and he never would have joined the Fairy Tail wizards on any of their recent missions.

And so, he nodded and leaned over to grabbed a picture sitting on his desk that featured him and the wizards that helped him on his first requested mission standing outside that very Guild Hall, and as everyone seemed to enjoy the frozen moment, the look on his own pictured face made the brown-haired mage smile with joy.

"Man, I really do love this town."

* * *

 **Nigel's so sentimental...he's such a sensy, lol.**

 **I will also say that his line about the Pokemon sequel might be the best line in the entire story...and it just so happens to reflects a very _real-life writer's_ current struggles to deliver a previously promised _Poke x FT sequel_ to his audience in the near future...but we'll get to that down the road.**

 **By the way, if you found yourself scratching your heads _too_ much, the stories I referenced were _Oasis and the Battle for Freedom, OPERATION: Vacation!,_ and _Fairy Tail I choose you!_ SUPER EXCITING!**

 **Anyway I hope you enjoyed the chapter featuring OC! Tomorrow we get back on track with the characters you know and love! I just hope Nigel can finish his art by the 24th...**

 **(Also...damn, why can't I remember what is _so special_ about today...?)**


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's Note: Hello! No special note, today. Here's #7!**

 **Also, I do not own _Fairy Tail_**

* * *

Chapter Seven - On the Seventh Day

* * *

It was now December the 19th in the frigid town of Magnolia. Most of Fiore now looked like a winter wonderland, and the season of Christmas was truly on the rise. As we return to our Fairy Tail shoppers, we come across a group who now…

"Oh we'll get to them in a minute! First let's jump back to the guild for a _quick_ recap!"

…Well…Apparently First Master _Mavis Vermilion_ wishes to debrief our audience…

"Teehee, _absolutely!_ Now here's where we've left off…"

Mavis continues talking with total holiday cheer. "Right now, over _half_ the guild has collected their gifts for our _Christmas Eve Secret Santa_ party that will take place in exactly FIVE DAYS! Everyone has put a lot of effort into what their buying and making, and I'm sure it will all be amazing!"

"Natsu, Gray and Happy were the first ones out the door and quickly made their way to the Flower blooming capital of Crocus! Levy, Jet and Droy weren't far behind, but they kept a lower profile on their first few days out. Also, Erza and Juvia decided to go a more _creative_ route and made their way all the way to Mount Hakobe! HOW UTTERLY TERRIFYING!"

"Soon after, Lucy, Wendy and Carla also ventured out to Crocus in search for their gifts, and right away Lucy ran into some trouble with her wallet…Meanwhile, Gajeel and Lily decided to pull a prank on Levy and fool her into thinking Gajeel's buying a gift for her! HILARIOUS!"

"Finally, we've recently gotten back from checking in with Nigel and Cana just on the other side of town. Nigel's hard at work as he tries to prove everyone wrong by not _buying_ a gift, and Cana doesn't seem to be doing anything at all! I _HOPE_ she knows what she's doing!"

"Now, it's just me and the guild's third Master, Makarov Dreyar sitting here in _Fairy Tail_ as we wait for everyone to slowly return with gifts and stories!"

"Ahem, excuse me First Master, but I'm afraid you're wrong on my title."

Ah…It appears that _Master Makarov_ also brought his "two cents" into our intro…

"I hate to say it, but I'm actually the _ninth_ Master, now."

Mavis smiled and giggled with humor. "Oh silly, I was only joking. You're actually the _sixth_ guild master, remember?"

Makarov scratches his chin. "Hmm, I guess you're right…for some reason I feel so much younger now! Hey, Kinana pour me a tall-boy from the tap! I'm going _all out_ this afternoon!"

Right...Well while the folks back in Magnolia enjoy themselves let's get back to the story.

* * *

As Mavis and Makarov enjoy the tiny crowd back in Magnolia, we now find the three new Fairies wondering the streets of Crocus to catch up on their own shopping. Because of their agreement, Mirajane had decided to let Kinana go shopping in the first half of the week, while she decided to wait until the second half to take her trip out.

Now, her two siblings join her as they all wonder around the capital in search for their ideal gifts.

"Ah man, this city sure brings me back!" Elfman boasted with excitement as he began to remember the exciting days of the Games. "You guy's remember watching us climb around that weird floating obstacle course for the Grand Magic Games?"

Mirajane giggled. "Actually Elfman, I was in the obstacle course too, remember?"

Lisanna rubbed the back of her head as she began to frown. "Yea, all's I remember is that horrifying thing involving Wendy and Carla. Happy and I searched all night to find her during that whole preliminary round."

Elfman shook his head as he remembered. "Oh yea, that's right. I only got to compete because Wendy went missing."

Lisanna then turned her frown upside down and smiled for her brother. "Ah, don't be like that, Elf. Wendy was really proud that you stood up for her! We all were!"

Mirajane giggled. "Yea, I was so happy when I found out you made it on the A-team. I was sort of hoping to get the chance at a re-match after you pulled that dirty trick during the S-Class Trials."

"Ah…yea that was funny." Elfman awkwardly chuckled as he remembered the white lie used by Evergreen to get them out of fighting his sister. "I gotta be honest when I say the whole thing was Ever's idea."

Lisanna giggled back as her brother finished. "Awe, it's so cute that you have a pet name for her, now."

Elfman looked away with an awkward expression. "Uh, well…I mean all the guys in the _Thunder_ _Legion_ call her that, so I just thought I'd do it, too."

Mira joined in with Lisanna. "Oh, you two are just the cutest! I'm actually surprised you chose to go shopping with us? I just assumed you'd use these few days off to spend more time with Evergreen!"

Elfman waved that thought away and kept walking. "Nah, a _real man_ never leaves his sisters behind."

Lisanna looked at Mirajane and smiled as she took her sister's arm. "He's so adorable, isn't he?"

Mira smiled back as she accepted. "I know! Just like when he was younger!"

Then, the three siblings made their way to the dense shopping district of downtown Crocus. From here, it appears that they all decided to get Mira's gift first, because she had the perfect idea for her secret recipient.

"Oh, this will be so perfect!" She giggled with joy as they all walked into a rather large toy store on the edge of the plaza.

Elfman followed her in the building while he scratched his head. "I don't get it, who do you have to shop for, Mira?"

Lisanna smiled and answered for her older sister. "Mira's shopping for Max! Ever since the Grand Magic Games, Max sold the rights to some of the guild merchandise to several shops and businesses in Crocus. Now they've made a lot of new items, including new action figures for the entire guild!"

"Yea, and look!" Mira then continued as they made it back to the Fairy Tail merchandise. "They have Max dolls this time!"

Mira smiled with joy as she picked up a fully poseable _Max Alors action figure_ with a build in sand-making lacrima. "They even updated him to look older! You know since he never got stuck with us on Tenrou Island."

Elfman still looked confused. "Yea I get that, but why would he want a toy? Toy's aren't manly?"

Lisanna giggled. "No, they're not; but Max always sold them back at _Fairy Tail_ , and he never got to see one made for himself. They always sold Nastu and Gray and all those other guys."

Mira then began to blush. "Actually it was more like Erza and Lucy…look."

Mira pointed out the area on the shelves that held the female action figures, but they all appeared to be completely picked over, including the two Strauss Sister's shelves.

Lisanna smiled but cringed. "Haha…well that's a little creepy."

"These creeps shouldn't be selling these things! THAT'S THE WORST KIND OF MANLY THERE IS!" Elfman got angry and ran for the front desk.

As the large brute stormed off in a fit of rage, his two sisters shook their heads, and Mira spoke first.

"Oh dear...maybe we should split up for a few hours. Ya know, give him time to cool off."

After a small argument with the clerks, Elfman stormed back to the _Fairy Tail_ section of the store.

"Okay guys, good news! I gotcha a discount…" Elfman started bragging before he realized his sisters were no longer there.

"Where did they go…?" Elfman worried about his two sisters, until he stopped and realized he still needed to look for a gift of his own.

"Oh wait, this may be a good time to do my own shopping...Eh, I suppose I can just meet them back at the train station, or something later on!"

The large _Takeover_ Mage smiled as he left the toy store and hunted down a new idea for a Christmas gift.

* * *

"Hmm, now what do I get for Secret Santa?" Elfman took a stroll on his own as he began to ponder on the thought of shopping for his secret partner.

"It's gotta be special, that's for sure! After all _she's_ pretty important." He smiled to himself as he began to look in all the windows. "I wonder if any of these places have…"

"STOP HIM, PLEASE!"

Elfman snapped his head as he noticed a rather old man was yelling at anyone who would listen.

"THAT THIEF HAS SOME REALLY BAD LACRIMA! HE NEEDS TO BE STOPPED!"

Elfman shifted his vision to find a figure in all black swiftly dodging pedestrians as he weaved through traffic carrying a small brown sack under his arm.

The old man panicked as Elfman ran over. "Hey, what's that kid have, anyway?"

The old man grabbed Elfman by the arms. "He has expired _lacrima fireworks_. Some stupid kid or something. I don't care that he stole them, but I pulled them from the shelves because they're really dangerous!"

Elfman shook his head with anger. "Well why'd ya go and let him do that if you pulled them from the store?!"

The man looked worried. "I think the storage door was unlocked. The town's banned fireworks ever since that weird event after the Grand Magic Games, so now they've become all the rage with the younger crowd…except _those_ ones were sitting in the pile to be destroyed! HE CAN'T RUN OFF WITH THEM!"

Elfman looked away and focused his eyes on the run away thief.

"Well, this sounds like a job for a _real man_."

The old man looked confused. "I don't care if you're a man, woman, or what! Just help, please…!"

He went to continue, but the elderly shopkeeper was quickly silenced as a large crowd of dust flew into his face, and as he collected his balance Elfman was gone.

At the same time, Elfman had just transformed into his _Beast Soul Weretiger_ to increase his speed as he ran down the hooded perpetrator.

"YOU…GET… _BACK HERE!"_

Elfman yelled with rage as he just managed to reach the flaring back of the young runner's jacket. He then yanked on it to drag the thief don to the ground and rolled him over.

"No no no! I just wanted to see what they'd do!" The young boy pleaded with mercy as Elfman looked down.

"Ah great…it is just a kid." The large brute then changed back into his regular human form as he sighed and picked the kid up. "Come on, you gotta save it for the old guy…"

 _~Eventually..._

"PETER!? Oh damn it, boy why'd it have to be you!?"

The store owner shouted with confusion. Meanwhile Elfman stood idly by as he had no idea what was going on, but it now appeared that the old man knew this young robber and didn't like the truth behind the theft.

"Sorry grandpa…I stole you keys this morning. I just wanted to see what firework lacrima did. I haven't ever seen them, and all my friends keep bragging to me about there's."

Elfman finally caught on as he smiled and knelt down. "Hey, if all your friends said they wanted to fight a dragon, who you step in to join them?"

"No…I guess…"The kid went to frown but the noticed the black guild emblem on Elfman's neck. "Hey, you're from _Fairy Tail!_ "

Elfman shot back and reached up to his neck. "Oh, this? Yea I'm a _Fairy Tail_ wizard."

The kid lit up. "You guys are my favorite!" The child then ignored his scolding grandfather's glare as he grabbed Elfman's arm.

"He had to be with _Fairy Tail_ when they saved the town from those weird Dragon thingies! Grandpa you have to give him a gift!"

Elfman waved his hands until he noticed a nice looking blank _photo album_ sitting on the shelf.

The tall Fairy then smiled. "Actually…I _am_ lookin' to buy a gift for an important person."

* * *

 **Well, Elfman's giftee sounds sentimental, since he appears to be looking at that photo album...I wonder who it could be?**

 **I hope you didn't mind Mavis and Makarov stealing my spot light in the intro, silly Fairies. Chapter 8 will be out tomorrow!**

 **(I'm also finally gonna see Star Wars tonight! I'll post my overall opinion in tomorrow's notes! NO SPOILERS THOUGH, I PROMISE!)**


	8. Chapter 8

**Author's Note: Hello! Here is Chapter 8. Enjoy!**

 **Also, I do not own _Fairy Tail_**

* * *

Chapter Eight - On the Eighth Day

* * *

"Thanks again, guys! Now I'm _definitely_ gonna have the manliest gift at the party!"

Elfman Strauss was finally feeling good about the Christmas Gift exchange. He knew all along that he had to find the perfect gift for his Secret Santa giftee, but he had no idea where to start.

That is until he ran into the strange grandfather and his grandson along the streets of Crocus just moments ago. After helping the elderly shopkeeper retrieve his stolen fire crackers, Elfman was rewarded with an item of his choice, completely free of charge.

"Merry Christmas!" Now, Elfman leaves the small shop with a bag containing a very festive blank photo album that he will update with photos prior to the gift exchange.

We would _like_ to share more information on Elfman's big find, but it appears that he just ran into some very familiar faces from before…

"Well _there_ you guys are!" The large brute yelled over to his two sisters who were walking down the street. "I've been lookin' all over for ya! What, did you decide to ditch me back at that toy shop?"

"Oh…hey Elfman. Sorry about that, hehe…" Mirajane and her younger sister Lisanna looked rather embarrassed to be seen. They apparently didn't want to keep him from carrying out his earlier rampage, so they decided to get some shopping done by themselves.

Lisanna meanwhile hid her bag from her daunting brother. "Yea, we just thought we would let you blow off some steam while we went out to find our gifts."

Elfman would have remained angry, but his younger sister's nervousness was really throwing him off.

"Um, that's cool, no big deal…now that ya mention it, who are you guys shopping for again, anyway?"

Mira and Lisanna both giggled, and the older one spoke first. "Oh, you remember! I have Max!"

"Yea…" Lisanna on the other hand turned away from her two siblings in order to keep the group walking forward. "And I think it might be best if I just save mine for Christmas Eve. I wouldn't wanna…hey, is that who I think it is?"

The petite _Takeover_ mage looked down the sidewalk to find a new group of Fairies walking through the streets of Crocus

Standing along the pavement was none other than the very intimidating _Lightning Dragon Slayer_ of the Fairy Tail guild, Laxus Dreyar.

With him was none other than his three _Thunder Legion_ partners, Freed, Bickslow, and Evergreen, and they all appeared to be looking around the windows for a nice starting point to shop.

Mira smiled and showed a faint blush on her cheeks. "Oh well that's fun! The _Thunder Legion_ decided to go shopping today, too!"

Elfman looked rather confused. "Uh, yea…this is gonna be awkward."

Lisanna turned and giggled. "Why? Is that gift you're holding meant for _Ever_ …?"

Elfman roared with rage. "NO! Not at all!" He then stormed passed his two sisters and greeted the four thunder buddies as they made their way over.

"What are you guys doing in Crocus?!" Elfman shouted out to his guild mates, and none of them looked too impressed.

In fact, Laxus chose to keep his scornful expression held on his face. "Okay, I'm gonna give you one more chance to repeat that. This time I'd lose the attitude…"

Elfman froze up. "Agh, sorry just curious is all. We haven't seen anyone else from the guild until now."

"Laxus!" Evergreen stepped up to defend the male _Takeover_ mage. "He was just asking a question!"

Laxus snapped down to Evergreen. "Geeze, I know that. What's your deal Evergreen?"

The green _Fairy Mage_ went to answer, but not before Bickslow put his two cents in. "Ah, she's just defending her _man!_ Can't say anything bad about Elfman or else Ever will hurt ya!"

Evergreen swung her large handbag over to smack him in the head, but not before his five wooden dolls stopped the blow.

"YEA! YEA! HURT YA!" The five dolls mocked the poor Evergreen, who now kept her mouth shut.

Mirajane and Lisanna finally made it over, and the latter spoke first. "So, are you guys all done with shopping?"

Freed Justine spoke up first. "Actually we haven't even started yet. We all have a general idea for what we want…well that is everyone except Laxus."

Evergreen snapped out of her state of embarrassment to grin up at the _Lightning_ mage. "Yea, the big guy's kept his mouth shut all morning and afternoon."

"Tsk, why do you guys care anyway?" Laxus tried to turn away, but not before Mira smiled.

"Oh, I'm sure he has _some_ idea for a gift…" Mira winked, knowing exactly which name Laxus had drawn from the first day. "He's just too shy to admit it."

Lisanna smiled. "Oh goodie! So Evergreen, who do you have for the holidays?"

"Oh, I'd rather not say…" Ever looked around and chose not to provide a full answer.

Lisanna thought about it and snapped her fingers. "Okay, I getcha…why don't you and I go shopping with just the two of us! We can meet everyone back at the train station at the end of the night!"

Before Evergreen could respond, Lisanna grabbed her arm and walked her off in the other direction.

Elfman looked completely puzzled as the two girls walked away. "Well, that was awkward..."

Although he was right, Mirajane failed to agree. "Yea…Hey Elfman, since we all have our gifts, why don't you try helping Bickslow and Freed out with their shopping?"

Elfman looked horrified at that suggesting, but Freed and Bickslow both started grinning.

Bicklsow wanted to keep his sarcasm on a roll, so he spoke first. "Why's that Mira, you wanna keep Laxus all to _yourself_?"

Laxus scowled over to his _Spirit Mage_ friend, but before he replied Mira grabbed him by the arm and faked a blush.

" _Well_ , what can I say? I haven't seen him in a while!" She tried to hide a laugh, since they just saw each other a few days ago.

Laxus looked puzzled, but chose to hide it. "Whatever."

"Very well." Freed nodded his head. "If Laxus wished to spend the evening with Mira, then we will let him. Come Bickslow, Elfman, we have shopping to do."

The awkward group of 3 Fairies all left on that note, leaving Laxus alone in the crowded streets with Mira by his side.

Mira finally had enough time to let out her giggle. "There…now you can tell me what you plan to get Freed."

* * *

As the entire group went their separate ways, Lisanna and Evergreen were looking around the large general store at the center of the main plaza.

Lisanna giggled as they walked around the room. "So, you ended up getting _my sister_ in the gift exchange, huh? That explains a lot."

Evergreen smiled with sarcasm. "Yes, I know I have outstanding acting skills. Actually, to be completely honest I really didn't need too much help looking for a gift…but it _is_ nice having some new company. Bickslow and those stupide 'babies' were getting on my nerves, and Laxus and Freed are a little too stern sometimes."

Lisanna smiled. "Yea, but those are the sorta quirks that makes Fairy Tail great."

Evergreen rolled her eyes. "Yes, I suppose you could say that…anyway, who did you end up getting in the gift exchange?"

Lisanna smiled. "Oh, I'm not supposed to tell anyone! That's the fun of it all being a secret!"

Evergreen snapped back. "Seriously, even after I told you about mine? Now, help me out here, I'm looking for a very elaborate cook book named _Tastes of Ishgar_."

"Oh that's so clever, Evergreen! And it sounds yummy, too!" Lisanna helped Evergreen thumb through the shelves for her item.

As the two girls kept up their search, Lisanna decided to ask a few cheeky questions. "So…were you _happy_ to get Mira in the drawing?"

Ever kept looking as she shrugged. "I suppose so. I've always gotten along with your sister. This is a good way to repay the favor."

Lisanna continued. "That's good. Say, what if you received someone else…?"

Lisanna looked over to see Evergreen's face slowly change to a dark shade of red.

"…okay…" The angry Fairy continued. "…I understand why you volunteered to go with me, but please can we drop the whole 'Elfman thing'?"

Lisanna paused and tried to conceal her giggling. "Actually, I was going to say Laxus or Freed…"

Evergreen fell to the floor in pure embarrassment, but as she hit, Lisanna lifted her up.

"Awe! Cheer up! I'm actually happy you two talk more, even if it's not going anywhere."

Evergreen turned over to yell in Lisanna's face. "WHO SAY'S WE'RE NOT GOING ANYWHERE!?...Cough, I mean _me too_."

Lisanna reached up to find the cookbook Evergreen was looking for and handed it to her friend. "Awe, you guys really are the cutest."

Evergreen would have face-palmed, but she was now carrying the book. "Yes…whatever you say."

* * *

As those two were concluding their shopping, we find Freed, Bickslow and Elfman wondering inside a two-storied liquor store in the uptown portion of Crocus.

Freed was in the middle of sampling wines as he looks over to his friends. "Apologies, but I would like to see if these flavors are truly 'to die for', as the advertisement suggests. After all, since I'm responsible for buying a gift for Cana I should be prepared to buy the most elaborate wine possible."

Bickslow tried not to laugh. "Yea, good luck finding something super fancy. I'm sure she's had every bottle that's ever existed. But I see where you're going with it!"

Freed sent the shop's sommelier back to fetch more selections before he continued. "Yes, I suppose so. In any case. all I know is that Cana is a fan of wine, so it shall be my goal to buy her the greatest wine possible."

Elfman laughed and looked over to Bickslow. "So, who do you have to go shopping for? If you don't mind me asking, that is."

"Nah you're cool." Bickslow waved his hand. "I have to buy something for Master Mavis. Kinda funny since she's a ghost and my magic deals with ghosts. I figured we could hit up the magic store next and I could try to find a cool lacrima or gadget to get her. She's probably not that hard to shop for."

Elfman laughed. "No kidding. She spends all those days out alone on Tenrou. I suppose the holiday by itself is enough to make her happy."

Freed finally received his next sample before he added on. "Yes, well we'd ask you for your giftee's name, Elfman; but it appears you are trying to keep it a secret…We could tell you were hiding something back with the group, so we have decide to honor that."

Elfman gasped as Bickslow patted him on the back. "Yea, so you don't have to show us the dirty little gift you bought for Ever!"

Elfman yelled out with rage. "I never even said I got Ever's name!?" He then smacked himself in the face.

"Ugh, I shoulda just stayed with my sisters. At least I'm comfortable with their senses of humor…"

* * *

 **Hmm, so I gave the Strausses some extra chapter space, very nice. Mira and Laxus seem to enjoy their alone time...**

 **Anyway Chapter 9 tomorrow!**

 **(Also...holy sh*t...Star Wars...PM me for details, but...wow)**


	9. Chapter 9

**Author's Note: Hello! Here is Chapter nine! This one, just like the last few is dealing with a large group of characters, so to get everyone some lines it may seem short. But, TBH none of this will really matter when we get to the Gift Exchange. Anyway Enjoy!**

 **Also I do not own _Fairy Tail_.**

* * *

Chapter Nine - On the Ninth Day

* * *

As the night grew darker we find that both the _Thunder Legion_ and the Strauss siblings are still out and about in the city of Crocus. While most of them have received luck finding their gifts, it took them all a very long time to both find the shops and to pick out the right choices.

As the Fairy shoppers continue, we find Mirajane Strauss sitting with Laxus Dreyar at a street corner café as she heckles him on a gift for the Secret Santa Gift Exchange.

"So…have you even started shopping for him yet?" Mira asked patiently as she smiled and sipped on her small coffee. The "him" she was referring to was Laxus's giftee for the Secret Santa event, Freed Justine.

Laxus rolled his eyes as he looked away with his arms crossed. "Well, I can't really say I have. It's sorta hard when the guy you're shopping for is going shopping with you."

"Hhmm, well that's true." Mira giggled and began unwrapping the paper off the bottom of a small muffin. "But, maybe you're just using that as an _excuse_ …after all you could have just done what Lisanna did and taken Evergreen or Bickslow out separately to help you shop."

Laxus took a drink from his dark cup of coffee, but still answered. "Well, I guess she's just a little smarter than I am…If I'm being honest, I'm not sure what Freed would want anyway."

Mira put her figure up to her cheek and began trying to help. "Hmm, well I see what you mean. He really has no real obsessions…unless you count you or the _Thunder Legion_ …HEY! Why don't you just make him a gift instead!?"

Laxus nearly spit out his mouth full of coffee. "What kind of lame idea is that?"

Mira giggled. "Oh lots of people are doing, I hear! Erza, Juvia, Nigel, Reedus, even I considered it at one point. It'll be fun, plus it'll be personable and from the heart."

Laxus tried not to laugh. "Eh, no offense but I don't really have the patience for that kinda crap. Besides, I heard all those guys are failing miserable…well maybe not Reedus."

Mira smiled. "Well, that's _their_ project. You will have _yours_! Freed loves the Thunder Legion, and he really looks up to you. It would mean the world to him to see you make a special gift!"

Laxus thought about it for a second before he stood up. "Yea, well I'll worry about that later…"

Mira giggled and waved her hand. "Okay…well you better worry quickly...you only have _three_ days left."

Eventually the Strausses and the Thunder Legion all finished up their evening and boarded a night train for Magnolia. There they would awkwardly spend the trip trying to hide each other's gifts from one another as they made their way out of the west and back home to Magnolia.

* * *

As the sun rose on the morning of December 21st we find a new team of Fairies entering the streets of Crocus. However, this group appeared to be a bit older than the previous ones.

"Wow, I can't say I'll ever miss making _that_ train ride." A very exhausted Macao Conbolt exclaimed as he and his peers left the recently arrived train. "It feels like it keeps getting longer and longer every time we come out here!"

His longtime friend Wakaba Mine chuckled at his own friend's distress. "Yea, well maybe you're just getting _older and older_. My money's on that one." He grinned as he tugged on his old and worn wooden pipe.

Behind him came the very young Romeo Conbolt who chose to add to the joking conversation. "Oh yea, well I'm pretty sure the _Master's_ the oldest one here!" He smiled and looked back to the fourth member of the group, Makarov Dreyar.

"Hmph." Master Makarov chose not to respond…at first. "Well, I may look old but at least I _feel_ young. In fact I'll wager I could spend the whole week wondering around this city without making a single complaint!" He tried to boast as he stepped out of the rail car.

Macao scratched his head. "Um, Master that really doesn't make any sense."

Wakaba smiled and patted Macao on the back. "Eh, let him keep his delusions. It's the only thing he has goin' for him these days."

"Teehee, you're right Wakaba! The Sixth Master's sense of humor is very amusing!"

This came from the fifth and final member of the group, Mavis Vermilion, as she floated off the train and joined her guild mates in the station lobby.

Wakaba looked confused. "Um, that's not really what I meant, First Master…"

Mavis giggled and flew ahead of the group. "Hah, well either way it looks like we made it to Crocus! Now we can begin our very own Christmas Shopping!"

Romeo smiled and ran ahead with her. "Yea! This will be pretty fun, guys!" He turned around to wave at the other three to join him, but immediately looked displeased as the three "elderly" men slowly tried keeping up with the spry energy of Mavis and Romeo.

"Haah Haah…you guys just go on a head. I think we're gonna take an easier day."

Romeo jumped up in shock. "You've only moved like five feet!?"

Wakaba stopped too, and laughed as he began re-lighting his pipe. "Look just let us old timers collect ourselves. Like the Master said, we can handle this city."

Makarov started laughing as well. "Damn straight. Now you and the First Master can run along, and we can all meet back here by mid-day."

"Geeze, if you guys are askin' for it..." Romeo shook his head and ran off to catch the ghost of the First.

Makarov then smiled as he began leading the smaller group on their new day.

"Right, now we can all go…" He would have continued by saying "shopping", but Makarov remembered he couldn't be too specific with _this_ particular crowd.

Macao raised his eyebrow with suspicion. "Why so odd, Master? You tryin' to hide something…?"

Makarov actually did try hiding his guilt, because he didn't feeling like dropping the ball by telling Macao that _he_ was his Secret Santa.

Master Makarov smiled. "Not at all Macao…but now you seem to be pretty defensive yourself..."

Macao now looked guilty too, because he apparently had the responsibility of shopping for Wakaba, and didn't want to spill the beans.

Wakaba on the other hand laughed out loud. "Geeze, you guys are weirdin' me out. I'm just glad you talked Romeo into going out with Mavis for the afternoon. Now I can get his gift without him knowing about it."

Macao and Makarov both looked even more confused, and smacked themselves in the face as the latter responded first.

"Why did the three of us decide to go shopping together, anyway…?"

* * *

As those fellows were trying to carefully map out their day, Master Mavis Vermillion and Romeo Conbolt seemed to be enjoying their day wondering throughout Crocus.

Mavis smiled as she sailed through the streets. "Ah it's such a big city! I'm sure we'll all find gifts in no time!"

Romeo smiled. "That's for sure. I just hope we haven't missed out on buying all the cool presents. I imagine people all over the kingdom come here to shop, so we better not be left with the all the crappy gifts."

"Oh, I'm sure we won't run into that problem." Mavis giggled and looked in at all the store windows to find each one was overly abundant with merchandise. "We'll just have to keep our eyes peeled for the right stores."

Romeo smiled and carried on the conversation. "So, Master Mavis. I understand you don't want us revealing who we're shopping for, but can I go ahead and ask if you have a gift in mind for your person?"

Mavis grinned and let out a small laugh. "Well of course, but I'll be completely honest. I've already purchased my gift."

Romeo looked shocked. "WHAT!?"

Mavis giggled. "Heehee! Well I actually couldn't get it myself, but I sent out another group of guild members the very first day to find my gift. Though...I can't tell you what it is. After all, it may ruin the surprise if too many people know about it!"

Romeo shook his head. "Yea, sure…anyway. So why did you decide to come with us, then?"

Mavis smiled. "Well, everyone else came back from their Crocus trips to say how lovely and beautiful the city looked with all its decorations up. So I decided to join you all on your shopping day to see it for myself!"

She smiled and looked down at Romeo. "Besides, I figured at least one of you would need help finding a gift for your own special person. So I'm also volunteering to help you out, Romeo!"

Romeo smiled, and would have replied, but the large Magic Shop of Crocus caught his eyes from down the street.

"Hey! We should check out the magic shop!" Romeo cheered as he picked up his walking speed through the large crowd of people.

Mavis agreed, and the two of them made their way into the large Magic Shop together, only to find an even larger crowd picking the shelves clean of all the shop's best merchandise.

"Oh no! We may be too late!" Romeo looked anxious as all the shelves looked to be very thin by now.

Mavis on the other hand kept her spirits high. "Oh, don't worry. I'm sure we'll be fine! We'll just have to be very specific when shopping for your person."

Romeo looked even more worried. "Well, that might help if you'd let me tell you who I have."

Mavis instantly plugged her ears before he could continue. "Oh no, silly! You can't tell me who you're shopping for…but we could have fun if we made a game out of it! How about you start off by giving me hints?"

Romeo continued with his puzzled face as he tried to go about the new game cautiously. "Um, I'm kinda worried it will spoil the secret…"

Mavis was already looking through the shelves. "Well, is this person a boy or a girl?

Romeo smiled with such an easy hint. "Well, it's a guy, and he loves to fight…which actually isn't very specific when it comes to Fairy Tail…"

Mavis giggled. "Oh no, that actually could help! Now what kind of wizard his he? Do he use _physical_ magic, or does he wield more _elemental_ types?"

"Eh, Physical." Romeo smiled again and joined in to help her look for gifts.

Mavis spoke quickly. "Okay, I believe that's enough information for me to know. Now since you're the Secret Santa, it may be a good idea to leave a little piece of yourself in this gift!"

Romeo pondered that idea. "You mean, something like me? Well, I am a fire wizard…"

"Exactly!" Mavis flew up with joy and looked on the higher racks of shelves. "So let's get this person a fire-type artifact!"

Romeo then looked confused again. "Hang on, since I have really unique fire magic, should I just give him a regular object and light it on fire?"

Mavis looked embarrassed. "Um, no that would be bad…but we can look for a cool weapon or some neat lacrima!"

Romeo then looked excited once again. "Good idea! I wonder where they keep the fire stuff in this place?"

As Romeo and Mavis ran around the large, crowded store looking along the half-empty shelves, they finally came across an employee.

Romeo yelled over to the very old busy man. "Excuse me, sir. You wouldn't happen to have any fire artifacts left would you?"

The Magic Store clerk heard the request and began thinking of options he knew of. "Huh, I'm not sure...but I can show you where we keep our fire stuff."

Romeo smiled and looked over to Mavis. "Hey, we may be in luck after all!"

Mavis would have answered, but she was too busy laughing at the fact that the store worker couldn't see her, and as she did the employee looked on to Romeo with total confusion.

"Uh, yea sure…here we may have a few things left…" He then pointed to a shelf with 4 or fives items on it.

Romeo didn't even catch the fact that the clerk couldn't see Master Mavis, because he was too busy eyeing two very large and bright _magical boxing gloves_ that glowed a bright shade of red.

"No way...those are PERFECT!" Romeo summoned a large stream of purple magic as it turned into a fiery cord of rope, and lassoed the two gloves down to his arms in one swing.

As Romeo retrieved the gloves, he smiled and looked at Mavis for a second time in front of the store worker. "Hey thanks again, Mavis! I think he'll really like these!"

Mavis giggled and smiled with joy. "Awe, well I'm glad I could help!"

As the two tried enjoying their moment, they were stopped once again as the confused and now annoyed store clerk grabbed the gloves out of Romeo's hands.

"Right, well my name's not _Mavis_ , it's _Dave._..Now, let me go to the front desk and I can ring these up for you."

Romeo looked guilty as Mavis flew right behind the two boys with a satisfied grin on her face.

"Teehee! Ah, I've always wanted to be the _Ghost of Christmas Present_. Now I've finally had the chance!"

* * *

 **Gyah, Mavis is sooo adorable! And Romeo's sweet too. Eh I'm sure the old men got their gift checked out in time...**

 **Sooo...tomorrow is supposed to be the second-to-last day of shopping for our Fairies. Now as I recall we never really found out where the first two wizards went...you know the first two guys who drew names out of the bowl. Eh I'm sure we'll see what their up to tomorrow. Chapter 10 out tomorrow!**

 **(BTW Today is the last day of Autumn! As Ned Stark would say... _Winter is Coming_.)**


	10. Chapter 10

**Author's Note: Hello! It's the first day of Winter!**

 **So I went back to do the edits for this chapter before I released it and I completely forgot...this one is actually _pretty funny_. Hope you enjoy!**

 **Also, I do not own _Fairy Tail._**

* * *

Chapter Ten - On the Tenth Day

* * *

It was now December the 22nd, and in Fiore this officially meant the first day of winter. Not only was the air really getting cold, but snow flurries blew in on a constant day after day basis, and the blankets of white ice were covering the entire kingdom landscape in a field of frost.

Here in Magnolia, however, they seemed to be getting the better end of the weather, and although it was still just as cold and snowy, it appeared that everything remained picturesque and beautiful.

As the day passed, we find that most of the mages of Fairy Tail are not inside enjoying the atmosphere of the bar and hall. Instead the entire guild was either still out buying their gifts, or they decided to take a day or two off for rest.

In fact, in the entire guild hall there seemed to be only _five souls_ still inside. Here we find the lone bar tender, Kinana helping several members of Fairy Tail begin the early stages of decorating for their Christmas party in two days.

"Oh wow, this really is amazing, guys! I'm so glad you all could stop by and help!" Kinana said with a soft smile as she gingerly held up a tuft of holly and tried to pin it above her place at the bar.

"Oh it's really no big deal!" Levy McGarden said with a bright smile as she helped Kinana. "Jet was supposed to take Droy and I down to Hargeon to get his gift, but since you needed an extra hand here they said it'd be cool if I stayed behind."

"Yea, and Carla and I got our gifts way early in the week, so we really have nothing better to do!" Wendy Marvell shouted with joy as her white cat, Carla flew her into the rafters to hang tinsel and hanging decorations.

"Yes…" Her white exceed continued. "…and we needed to get out of the girls' dormitory by any means necessary. If I see Juvia and Erza before that party I will surely lose my mind."

Kinana softly smirked at Carla's anger. "Wow, they do sound like a handful. Speaking of which…where's Gajeel at today, Lily?"

Pantherlily, the final guild member in attendance, had decided on leaving Gajeel to nap at home and sleep the day away, while he went in to help finish the decorating.

The little black exceed smiled and confessed. "Actually, Gajeel said the idea of him sleeping sounded much than this, so he decided to stay at home."

Lily grinned even further as he remembered the practical joke he and Gajeel made a few days back. "And he also had to stay at home to make sure his gift arrived, you know because it was _way too heavy_ to carry in from Crocus."

Instantly, Levy blushed as Wendy made a comment.

"Wow that sounds like a big present. I bet he bought it for someone special." Wendy looked like she was deep in thought as she tried to guess the mystery giftee.

Levy then let out a small comment. "Haha, y-yea sounds like s-something…"

Carla rolled her eyes as she let Wendy down from their flight. "Honestly that man confuses me. It was because of that reason why I had a hard time shop…" She then held her tongue as all the heads in the room snapped over to hear her finish that thought.

Finally, the little white cat conceded as she face-palmed in defeat. "Alright, I had Gajeel for the gift exchange. Oh, why did I have to say anything…?"

Lily smiled as he put down his decorations. "Hah, well that's amusing. I hope you got him something special."

Carla rolled her eyes. "Yes, well it really isn't _appropriate_ for 'guild hall-usage'...All's I can say is that if I see him using it even once in my presence I will take it back faster that he can cry."

Wendy scratched her head and sighed. "Guy's…it's a guitar. So, don't think she was going anywhere with that..."

Everyone laughed out loud, except for Levy, who sort of looked away and tried carrying on with the conversation. "Haha, yea his singing isn't the best…so does anyone else have any secrets they wanna share about Secret Santa?"

Wendy smiled and shrugged. "Ah, I don't know. The First Master really wanted us to keep quiet about our gifts."

Levy nodded. "Oh I mean, no one has to go into complete details. What about you, Kinana? I saw you out shopping earlier this week."

Kinana smiled back. "Oh, yea that's right!" She then pulled out a small box that was wrapped in green and white wrapping paper with a white bow.

"I had Master Makarov. I wanted to get him something special since he helped me out after I joined the guild. So I had this made for him in Crocus, but I can't show anyone until the gift exchange." She laughed as she then put the gift back under the counter.

Levy softly smiled. "Awe, that's so sweet! Man, I wish I was clever enough to have something hand-made. I mean I'm pretty comfortable with my gift, but it woulda been cool to do something creative like that."

Wendy smiled and nodded her head. "Yea, I feel good about my gift, too. I just hope my giftee straightens up before the gift exchange…she's been acting kind of crazy."

From there, the rest of the group started questioning everyone about each of their choices in presents, and as some people remained quiet, everyone seemed to have a god time in pre-celebration for the Secret Santa Party.

* * *

As the entire guild was now rounding down their week, we find two last members of Fairy Tail stranded in Crocus as they make their last-second attempts to find the perfect gift.

Now, they're easily seen shopping inside the luxurious _Fleuriste_ Garment Store…

"Woah, man should I be seeing this right now?" Gildarts Clive tried holding in a laugh as his travel companion, Jellal Fernandes, shopped around for a very _sensual outfit_ for his _special giftee_.

Jellal blushed as he tried keeping up his search in peace. "Hold on, you were the one who suggested I take _this_ route!?"

Gildarts let out a small laugh. "Yea, but I dunno...It's weird now that you're actually _doing it._ Eh, maybe we can just get her a sweater or something."

Jellal grew slightly angrier and threw the luxurious piece of lingerie back on the clothing rack. "I can't change the plan now, we only have two days left…"

"IS EVERYTHING GOING ALRIGHT, BOOOYS?!"

"Agh, damn it…" Gildarts sighed as the very eccentric clothing salesman, Geoff, re-joined them from behind.

Geoff continued. "Oo, those pieces are absolutely lovely, aren't they!?" He smiled as he pointed to the rack of clothing right beside Jellal. "They just came in from the new line, and they're even covered with your Fairy Tail discount!"

Gildarts grunted. "Yes…you've already told us who modeled them…one of them was my daughter."

Geoff paused. "Oh…well, a man tends to forget, am I right, here?" He laughed as he nudged Jellal in the side. "So, do you have anything picked out for your special little lady, sir?"

Jellal didn't want to carry the conversation. "Agh, well…I'm getting there."

Gildarts collected his anger to enjoy more of the awkward sight of Jellal. "Yea, actually I got a question for ya..." He smiled as he held up one red and one black bra form the same clothing rack, and turned towards Geoff. "Which of these do you think goes better with red heads?"

Jellal looked like his head was going to explode as Geoff pondered the question. "Hmm, well I think I'm more partial to the black one…wait, are we talking like a 'red head' or a _red head_? Ya know, orange vs scarlet?"

Gildarts was very quick to answer as he winked right at Jellal. "Oh Scarlet, _definitely Scarlett_!"

Geoff smiled and snapped his fingers. "Oh yes, the black will look way better! We may even be able to find you a matching bottom piece!" The clerk smiled with a businessman's charisma as he then turned to continue his search. "So what size cup are we thinking, here?"

Jellal was about to ram his head into the metal rack as Gildarts tried answering for him. "Agh, I dunno...hey _Wizard Saint_ this may be a better question for you to answer."

Jellal turned back to the conversation, only one eye was heavily twitching with rage.

"Well…you don't say?"

* * *

As the awkward afternoon came to an end, Gildarts and Jellal left the _Fleuriste_ Garment Store, while Geoff yelled loudly from the door.

"Oh thanks again for stopping by! And tell Mr. Thomas and all the Fairies Merry Christmas!"

Gildarts smiled awkwardly and waved back. "Yea Thanks! Merry Christmas to you, too!"

Geoff continued. "And be sure to take _extra_ care of your sweet heart, _lover boy!_ " The loud-mouth salesmen directed that comment at Jellal, and quickly shut the door before he could see the poor man's angry reaction.

The _Heavenly Body_ Mage's hands started glowing with a bright shade of light yellow light as he felt his unrestrained rage flow through his veins, but quickly stopped as Gildrats put his palm on his back and silenced the movement of his internal magic.

"Whoa, not right here big guy. Let's blow off the steam and grab a bite to eat…"

 _~After finding a restaurant..._

As Gildarts and Jellal sat inside a nice tavern in the central plaza, Jellal collected the drinks from the bar and brought them back to their table. meanwhile, Gildarts looked into his small communication lacrima and started cracking a smile.

"Hey, you oughta check out the picture of this goofy clay thing Cana just sent me! She never explained it, but I guess that Nigel guy just bought this at a local craftsman shop for Secret Santa…man I would not wanna meet the guy who made _that._ " He continued laughing as he grabbed his ale from Jellal's hands.

Jellal took his seat and sighed. "Yes, well sometimes those small crafted gifts are more special than the average present."

Gildarts smiled and nodded his head. "Ah okay, good point. I can drink to that!" He held up his hand, and tapped glasses with Jellal as they both took a toast and drank.

As they finished their sips, Jellal looked up at Gildarts. "So, what are you getting for your person, if you don't mind me asking?"

Gildarts waved his hand. "Nah, it's no biggy. I go on so many adventures and quests I end up bringin' home a lot of cool junk. Problem is it all just builds up in my shack outside of Magnolia. I figured I could get my guy a small souvenir I bought back from a big quest or something."

Jellal thought that sounded very nice. "That actually sounds like a pretty special gift."

Gildarts agreed. "Yea, plus I really enjoy everyone in the guild, so I knew I wouldn't have to single my person out with some overly expensive gift..." He smiled and picked up his glass. "…You on the other hand landed a pretty special name for the gift exchange. That's gotta feel pretty cool."

Jellal awkwardly commented, while trying to make a smile at the same time. "Yes, I will agree. I must be honest when I say I don't know everyone in the guild. I have gotten to know you and the members of Natsu's team very well, and I met Nigel after our group mission together, but for the most part I still feel like a stranger in the guild hall."

He took off his full mask as he continued. "I guess it's a good thing I'm not actually a member of Fairy Tail, in that case anyway."

Gildarts thought about that and shook his head. "Nah, I wouldn't put it like that. I mean sure, you're not an official member, and you don't have a crest or anything. But you did fight for our team in the Games. And you were pretty quick to lend a hand with those dragons here in Crocus. All that actually sounds pretty special to me."

Jellal thought about it, and slowly agreed. "Hm, well I guess if you put it that way, it all makes sense." He then raised his glass again and made another toast.

"Very well then. To _Fairy Tail!_ "

Gildarts smiled and accepted as he tapped the glass.

"Aye, to _Fairy Tail_."

The two men proudly finished off their first drinks and quickly ordered more. Yet as they sat in wait, Gildarts decided to break the tension by adding in more comedy.

"Hehe, so…are you gonna have her break in your gift the night of the Christmas Party, or are you gonna wait until Christmas Day?"

Gildarts broke into laughter as Jellal never answered, and slammed his head down on the table in frustration and embarrassment.

* * *

 **Ah those guys are so funny!...I guess Jellal has a _pretty special name_ for the gift exchange...?**

 **Okay, Christmas Eve is in TWO DAYS! That means our friends in Fairy Tail have ONE MORE SHOPPING DAY to get all their last-minute ideas into gear. I will be honest and say there are no more "character-specific" chapters left. Tomorrow will sort of wrap up everyone before the gift exchange, and then the next day will be the gift exchange (and that may be released in two separate chapters...idk yet.)**

 **Either way we're getting closer! I hope you're enjoying it, and chapter 11 is out tomorrow!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Author's Note: Hello! We're exactly one day away from Christmas eve, which means we're exactly one day form the story's finale!**

 **This chapter kinda went all over the place, and is basically just a prelude for tomorrow, so enjoy!**

 **Also, I do not own _Fairy Tail_. **

* * *

Chapter Eleven - On the Eleventh Day

* * *

It was now December 23rd in the Kingdom of Fiore. Winter was finally here and puffy white snow was now blanketing the entire kingdom from east to west…oh and Fairy Tail only has _ONE MORE NIGHT TO GO CHRISTMAS SHOPPING!_

That's right. After today ends, all the mages of Fairy Tail will be completely stuck with whatever items they have in town. Master Makarov has let all the local shopkeepers know that no Fairy Tail members can _buy or sell_ items in their stores, and Freed has placed an enchantment over the town of Magnolia (at the request of First Master Mavis) to prevent any member of Fairy Tail from leaving the city for 24 hours starting at the turn of midnight from the 23rd to the 24th of December. (However, Freed did not include Gildarts in this enchantment because he is a very busy man. He would have also left out Nigel due to his businesses, but Nigel insisted he had enough communication lacrimas to be okay for one day in "Magnolia-isolation.")

That being said, each guild member was either feeling very festive, or very nervous with the events leading into tomorrow. However, even if they picked out crummy gifts, they would still have a nice guild-wide Christmas party to enjoy afterwards (unless their guild mates trash talk them for getting crummy gifts…which actually sounds like the most accurate ending to the scenario.)

Here, we come across two Fairies who did not actually buy their main gifts, but instead _made_ them with their bare hands.

Erza Scarlett and Juvia Lockster slaved away on the main floor of the _Fairy Hills_ dormitory as they each applied the finishing touches on their two make-shift Christmas gifts.

"And…there! My final cake has been created!" Erza stood proudly by her recent pastry creation, and showed it off to a rather content Juvia on the other side of the room.

The proud chef continued. "Oh what joy! I imagine he'll eat it all in one bite, I know I certainly would!"

"Oh my, it looks heavenly…did you happen to make seconds?" Juvia asked nervously as she licked her lips.

Erza chuckled and swung the door of the refrigerator wide open to reveal _eight_ more delicious strawberry cakes sitting in wait. "Why of course! I decided to make myself some extras just for the party, you know in case no one else brought strawberry cake."

Juvia sighed, realizing none of those were for her. "Oh…well I guess I should have known…Anyway, what do you think of _my_ gift!?" Juvia dragged Erza into the lobby of the dorm where she had recently finished her very large and obnoxious ice sculptor of Gray Fullbuster, using only a single chunk of ice found on the frigid peaks of Mount Hakobe.

"Teehee, isn't he _dreamy!?_ He almost looks better when he's made out of ice!" Juvia brightly blushed as she hugged Erza tightly in her embrace.

"Hmm…" Meanwhile, Erza sat in thought as she tapped her lips with her finger. "That's strange…why is he completely naked?"

Juvia looked excited. "Oh well because, silly! He always takes his clothes off. I figured I would add a little joke in there for the rest of us!"

Erza looked over to Juvia. "Yes, I understand that part…but _completely_ naked? If I recall, I am almost certain you have never seen Gray _that_ naked before…?"

Juvia froze with embarrassment. "Agh, well…let's just say…FORGET HOW I MADE IT!...all's that matters is that it looks fantastic!"

Erza paused before she smiled with a dull, supportive grin. "Yes, I must agree your craftsmanship is out of this world…now good luck getting it down the hill to the guild hall for tomorrow's party."

* * *

As those two Fairy girls idolized each other's' creations, the rest of the guild tried their hardest to enjoy one more day of regular relaxation in the bar of the guild hall.

Here we find Levy McGarden and Kinana finishing the last minute touches on the guild Christmas decorations before finally getting to take their break.

Levy stepped off a latter and looked up to the ceiling, easily smiling with pride. "And that should be the last of it! Man this place looks so good!" She tried bragging with joy, until a large metal club came hurling from behind to bring the nearest wreathe crashing into the ground below.

"Grr, _GAJEEL!?_ " Levy turned to shout at her iron-headed friend, only to turn and find the wreathe landing around her neck because it sat right at Gajeel's chest height.

"Geehee" The _Iron Dragon Slayer_ smiled with sarcasm. "Maybe I should just leave it there." He laughed as the goofy wreathe dangled from Levy's tiny neck.

"Grr..." Levy blushed with anger and ripped it off her head. "What's the big idea!? You trying to ruin my decorating?!"

"Not at all!" Gajeel smirked and snatched the large green ornament from her hands. "I just thought it could go a little higher." He then extended his iron hands above the original spot and hung the leafy decoration piece a few feet higher than before.

Gajeel dusted his off hands and smiled. "I know it's a little hard to decorate this place for a shrimp like you, but you don't have to get lazy with your placement."

He patted Levy on the head as she sat in anger. The blue haired Script mage then replied. "So, did your little gift get delivered yet?"

"Hey, I don't believe that's any of your business, Short Stuff!?" Gajeel snapped and walked towards the bar. "Now, Imma go find Lily and grab a seat at the bar…and don't worry...My gift arrived safe and sound."

He grinned and left Levy to stand in anger as Kinana tried hiding her own grinning face.

"Awe, you guys are so adorable."

While Levy tried mustering up enough courage to respond to Kinana's words, we now find Natsu Dragneel and Happy the cat sitting alone at a table in the middle of the hall.

"Nastu, wake up! No one wants to eat with us!" Happy said with a frowny face as he looked over to Lucy, Wendy and Carla all laughing and having a good time at the other side of the room. He kept up with his relentless nudging to try and wake the dormant Dragon Slayer from his cozy slumber, but nothing he tried seemed to be working.

"Happy…ergh...shut...up." Natsu snored in his sleep as he rolled over and fell flat off the bench.

"Nastu…" Happy sat with embarrassment on his face as realized Carla and the others would never want to sit near him and Natsu at this rate, especially with how Natsu behaved last time he fell asleep in the guild. However, just the the little blue cat looked up to find Nigel Thomas had just entered through the doors of the guild hall, with a little paint decorating his cloths and skin, and a confident smile plastered to his face.

"Hey, Nigel..." Happy flew up and onto the end of the table closest to the newly arrived brown haired mage. "Maybe you could talk some sense into him!"

"Ah, Nastu." Nigel laughed as he shook his head and replied. "You're gonna wear me out all over again! Man, I spend all week working on my gift, and now I gotta come here and get you up off your feet!"

Natsu slowly crawled back onto the bench and frowned. "Eh, I'm all fired up for Christmas, don't you worry...I'm just sleepy is all…can't a guy just take a nap in his own guild hall for once?"

"Yes, for _once_. Not a thousand times." Nigel sat down and continued to grin. "Now, why are you so tired all a sudden?"

Natsu looked slightly puzzled. "Huh, come to think about it I can't remember? It had something to do with my Secret Santa present…"

Nigel pondered that thought as he took out his trusty silver flask filled with a recently brewed batch of strong Xmas Eggnog. "Well…what did you recently do on the 'secret santa front' to wear yourself out?"

Natsu sat up and scratched his chin. "Well, I mean I bought a lot of stuff…"

Happy looked even more embarrassed. "Geeze, are you really that clueless, Natsu? You gotta a ton of junk this morning alone!"

Natsu looked shocked to here that. "REALLY!? Well where'd I put it then, smart guy?"

Happy face-palmed as Nigel carried on laughing and asked Natsu a question. "Who do you even have for the gift exchange, anyway?"

Natsu continued with his thinking as Happy whispered it into Nigel's ear. Luckily for the little blue cat, Natsu had to tell Happy who he was shopping for in order to have him help with all the shopping this week.

Happy flew back and finally tried smiling as Nigel collected the answer.

" _Ohhhhh_ …" The business tycoon smiled widely as he pulled out a piece of thin white paper and a small pen. "Well hold on, in that case I have the perfect things to add to your little treasure cove!"

As Nigel debriefed Natsu on his new Secret Santa gift ideas, we then come to find a small crowd of Fairies sitting at the main bar.

Mirajane smileed as she serves Master Makarov, Laxus, and Mavis all their drinks. "Oh, I'm just so excited for this party tomorrow! Everyone is going to have so much fun!"

Laxus rolled his eyes. "Yea.., hey how are you drinking that, First Master?"

Mavis giggled in her response. "Oh silly, I can pick up most objects without any trouble!"

Laxus sighed. "Yea, well that doesn't really answer my question…"

He would have continued, but Master Makarov patted him on the back with pure sarcasm to speak first. "So boy, did you figure out how to make your little gift?"

"Mgh…"

Laxus turned away as Mira smiled and answered for him. "Oh, he sure did! I gave him a few suggestions, and he followed them all perfectly!"

The grandson of Makarov now found more confidence to give his grandfather a grin. "Exactly, I followed them perfectly. Now, what about you old man. You come up with a good gift of your own?"

"Bahahaha!" Makarov laughed. "Of course I did! You think your ol' grandpa would come up empty handed for a party like this?!"

Makarov sighed with a smile as he began scanning the room. "It's times like these when I really am thankful for what this guild has become. Christmas lets me finally say thanks to all my children, and helps me reflect what the guild has accomplished over the year."

Mavis went to reply. "Awe, well I know exactly what you mean! This group of wizards is very special to this guild, and I have no doubt that…"

She would have carried on, but the First Master was violently interrupted as Natsu Dragneel shouted over the entire hall.

"CRAP! I JUST REMEMBERED! WHAT AM I WAITIN' FOR!?"

Then, Makarov and the others looked over to find Nigel and Happy face-palming simultaneously, as the rowdy _Fire Dragon Slayer_ ran out faster than ever before to race down the streest into a puff of smoke.

Mavis giggled as Makarov smacked his forhead to reply. "Well, I'm thankfully for _almost_ everyone…"

* * *

As Makarov was now trying to lower his blood pressure, we finally come to find Lucy Heartfilia enjoying a nice meal with Wendy and Carla on the other side of the guild hall.

"Boy that was pretty good! I should order that more often!" Lucy smiled as she ended a very delicious lunch, and finished it all off with a sip of water.

Wendy agreed. "Right! That almost made me want seconds!"

Carla finally finished her meal as well, and smiled with equal agreement. "Yes, I must admit that was actually quite delicious."

They all went to comment further, but stopped as a very upset blue cat came over to join them.

"Hey guys…" Happy moped as he sat next to Carla in a slumped over position.

"Oh brother…" Carla rolled her eyes. "What is it now, Happy?"

Happy decided to act like a smart aleck, and began pouting like a child. " _Well,_ since you guys didn't want to eat with me and Natsu, he ended up going crazy and ditching me here at the guild hall all by myself. And Nigel's been working on his gift all week, so I din't wanna bother him while he relaxes..."

Carla was turning completely red, and she was far too angry to even find words in Happy's excuses.

" _Natsu..._ " Lucy on the other hand froze as soon as she heard that name. Since tomorrow was the Secret Santa, she purposefully tried avoid Natsu as much as she could, just to keep herself from spilling her secret.

"Oh..." The blonde tried replying with surprise. "...That's a bummer. We're so sorry, Happy."

"Yea, whatever." Happy pouted and rolled his eyes. "I think you guys owe me a fish…or maybe seven."

Lucy started looking angrier. "Actually, I owe you nothing…but if you'd like you can join the three of us on an afternoon around town to look at all the Christmas lights and decorations."

Happy's attitude then changed from irritated to excited. "Really!?"

Lucy snapped back without further sympathy. "But you have to drop this attitude, or else you can't go!"

Happy straightened up. "Aye Sir! When are we leaving?"

Wendy giggled and replied. "Right now, silly! We just wanted to finish our lunch before we left."

Carla added on. "Yes, and Lucy didn't you need to stop off at your apartment before we went around town?"

Lucy snapped her fingers. "Oh, thanks Carla! Yea, we better stop there first."

* * *

As the four Fairies wondered about town they finally made it to Lucy's apartment.

"Okay guys, just let me step in for a minute and…" Lucy went to continue, but not before she opened the building door to find her land lady standing in the doorway wearing a white fumigation mask and holding several bags.

Lucy looked horrified. "Oh god…did someone die in here?"

The land lady removed her mask to reveal a scowling face. "Actually, I'm having some renovations done. I need you out of here for a few nights." She then tossed all the heavy luggage onto the four innocent Fairies standing in the streets.

"Ouch!" They all cried out, and Happy snapped first as he shoved a bag of cloths out of his face. "Why'd you do that, ya crazy lady?!"

The land lady didn't like his attitude. "Well, normally my tenants all leave for the holidays, which makes this a good time to get the additions done…but with Lucy here sticking around all year I _almost_ had to work around her."

Lucy pulled off the heaviest bag and snapped back. "YEA! WELL WHY DIDN'T YOU JUST DO _THAT!?_ "

The land lady replied. "Cause…I don't really care."

Then, she slammed the door, but before the Fairies got up, they could here another command coming through the door.

"OH AND YOUR RENT'S DUE BY THE 1ST!"

Lucy wanted to tear the building apart. "Grr…it's one thing that she went through my things to pack my bags, BUT SHE DOESN'T EVEN KNOW WHAT THINGS SHOULD STAY AND WHAT SHOULD GO!?"

Carla looked confused. "Hold on, is this the first holiday season you've spent in these apartments? Shouldn't you have known this was happening?"

Lucy paused and considered her own timeline of events. "Actually...we were frozen in time on Tenrou Island in mid-December of my first year in Fairy Tail, and because of that I never got to spend my first Christmas here in town...So to be honest I' guess I haven't been here for her past renovations."

Lucy began panicking when she realized her new dilemma. "OH MAN!? Where am I gonna sleep for the week!?"

Wendy looked scared for her friend. "Gee, Lucy…would it make you feel better to come live with me and Carla for a few nights?"

Carla rolled her eyes. "Eh, I suppose…but she'll have to sleep on the couch."

"OH!" Happy jumped up and onto a fragile looking bag. "You could stay with me and Natsu!...I bet you've always wanted to do that, teehee!"

Lucy blushed and rolled her eyes. "Actually, I think I'll just go with Wendy's idea…"

* * *

 **AGH! NO MORE! Nothing else until tomorrow! Meet back here when that happens for the last installments! (Oh I'm cruel!)**

 **BTW...Since tomorrow's finale chapter is supposed to be one chapter in order to fit the theme, and since it is a very very long chapter I've decided to uploaded it into two parts. Now...as of this moment I plan on releasing it in either one of two ways:**

 **A.) Release part 1 right when I wake up-ish, and then part 2 at mid day (like 2:00pm to 4:00pm Eastern US Time.)**

 **B.) Release them both in the morning at the same time.**

 **I would like to do B, but I have had problems in the past with me uploading two chapters a day, and my readers skipping the first chapter by accident. So if I do this one you all MUST MAKE SURE TO READ BOTH PARTS!**

 **However, I am laying these options out for you all to decide. You have til 10:00 pm tonight (December 23rd) to tell me which method you prefer, and if I have multiple people chose I will make it a choice by popularity or something like that. (Either way, I as the author will hold the right to make my own decision...that's basically my excuse for if I fall asleep before 10:00pm and miss your messages...lol. So the earlier the better.)**

 **So...let me know, or don't and expect the latter option. Either way see you tomorrow!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Author's Note: Hello! It's here! Christmas Eve is finally here! Now I can present the final installments for my Fairy Tail Christmas Special!**

 **Now...I'm gonna go ahead and say that this chapter ended up being 19 pages over on Microsoft Word...ya, it's a little hard to condense the scene when it involves almost 40 characters directly interacting with one another. So I hope the dialogue isn't too confusing for everyone.**

 **Also, because it was so big I had to split it up, so please make sure that you READ THIS PAGE FIRST BEFORE GOING ON TO THE NEXT CHAPTER(S)!**

 **Also, I do not own _Fairy Tail_.**

* * *

Chapter Twelve - On the Twelfth Day: Part 1

* * *

Well, it is now December the 24th, _Christmas Eve!_ When we last left our Fairies they were…you know what? I'm done with super long intros. Enjoy the holiday and enjoy the Fairy Tail gift exchange!

Here we simply find all the members of Fairy Tail enjoying the warm atmosphere of the guild hall as they each wait for their final guests to arrive.

"Well, that week was awful." Gray sighed and leaned against the bar. "I had to spend the entire first half following Natsu and Happy around the stupid capital trying to find gifts that they eventually didn't even buy." He poured out his never-ending complaints to a crowd of Fairies sitting with him as they all let out several laughs in response.

Happy giggled and smacked Gray with the end of his fish. "Nah, we all know you loved hanging out with us, _especially me_."

Lucy smiled. "Awe, well at least you got to experience some bonding time with your _two best friends_." She winked and nudged Gray in the stomach.

However, Lucy quickly regretted her action as she now had Juvia Lockster eyeing her from across the room as she hid behind a large white pillar.

The blonde then rolled her eyes. "Ugh, Juvia just come over and sit with us!"

Juvia took a large gulp and removed herself from behind her hiding spot. "Hmm, well I suppose it wouldn't be _that_ bad to chat before the gift exchange…I _do_ need to clear my mind."

For once, Juvia's scattered brain wasn't due to her obsession with Gray. It turns out that everyone in the guild was feeling rather nervous with the gift exchange. Not only was everyone excited to see what they were receiving and who they were receiving it from, they were also acting very self-conscience about their own gifts of choice.

That is except for a select group of Fairies, like Mavis Vermilion for example.

"Oh, I am so excited for today's gift exchange!" She cheered with joy as she sat on top of the bar countertop right beside the glass bowl waiting for every entry to turn in their slips of paper.

"Yea I know what you mean!" Sitting beside her at the bar was a rather cheery Cana Alberona as she held a mug of eggnog and smiled with satisfaction. "This week was way too long. I'm just looking forward to letting loose and enjoying the holidays!"

"Here, here!" Master Makarov was sitting on the other side of the First Master, and as he and Cana finished there cheer, they all three raised their cups and made a toast to the holidays.

As they all waited around, the guild doors finally swung open to reveal three figures pouring in from the cold weather outside. To no one's surprise, two of the guests appeared to be the very late gift givers Gildarts Clive and Jellal Fernandes (dressed like his Edolas counterpart, Mystogan.)

However the third counterpart made them all turn their heads with curiosity.

"Huh, I wonder who that could be?" Gray thought with suspicion as he took a sip from his drink.

"Yea, I dunno." Happy said with a mouth full of fish. "Is it Natsu?"

Lucy then turned her head and remembered that Natsu wasn't sitting at their table. In complete honesty no one knew where the _Fire Dragon Slayer_ went after he ran out of the guild hall yesterday screaming like a mad man.

In any case, everyone kept their eyes on the group as they made their way inside, until Juvia of all people spoke up.

"Hold on…it's _Meldy!_ "

Standing with her guild mate from _Crime Sorciére_ was none other than the pink haired _Sensory Mage_ , Meldy.

In fact, Meldy removed her blue hood at that comment and revealed a bright smile. "Hey Juvia! It's so nice to see all of you!"

Juvia jumped up and gave her old friend a hug as the other Fairies smiled. Then Jellal provided his explanation.

"Although she is well aware she will not be receiving a gift this evening, I couldn't bear the thought of leaving Meldy alone on Christmas. So if it is alright with you all I would like to invite her to the party."

Gray let out a smile from beside Juvia. Like her, and most of the members from _Team Tenrou_ , Gray was one of the few people in the guild who actually knew Meldy from a previous meeting.

Because of that, he decided to tease her. "Well, I mean you're not _actually_ a member, but Jellal and Nigel are here too, and he's not a member either so..."

"SURE! She can stay if she likes!" Makarov jumped up with wide eyes and a smile as he observed the new beauty's image.

Mavis let out a giggle. "Well, I don't see why not! I am very sorry you won't get a gift tonight, but I hope you enjoy the evening either way!"

Meldy smiled, and although she couldn't hear what Mavis had to say, everyone else's cheer made her just as happy. "Oh thank you for allowing me to come! I don't mind at all if I don't get a gift. I just like seeing you all enjoy the holidays together as a guild!"

"Yea..." Added the tall and rough Gildarts. "This is great and all, but I'm a busy man. Can we get this whole thing started, or what?"

* * *

Now, the entire guild (save Nastu) all sat around Mavis and a glass bowl as she stuck her hand inside to draw the first name.

"Okay, and the first person to go is…"

"ME! ME!"

Everyone turned their heads and laughed as little Asuka Connell jumped out of her parent's hands to grab a very large gift basket out from under the large Christmas tree that held most of the regular sized presents.

Mavis chuckled and continued. "Oh what the heck? Let's just throw out the bowl and go down the list!"

Asuka smiled with joy and nodded as she ran over and plopped the large gift basket right in front of Gildarts.

"Oh lookie here! There's loads of stuff for me!" Gildarts grinned as he pulled out many different boxes of sweets and treats. "I can't say I'm much of a sweet tooth, but this will be really nice to have when I'm away on my missions."

Bisca stepped up to grab her daughter's hand. "Yea, well Asuka insisted we needed to make a gift basket for you, instead of trying to buy one single present. In fact she and I baked most of the treats ourselves."

Nigel smirked at that 'homemade' comment from his seat at the bar, and nudged his friend Cana right in the side. She sat there and rolled her eyes at his gesture and continued gulping on her eggnog.

Gildarts smiled and stood tall, and as he bundled up his gift basket he gave Asuka a pat on the head. "Thanks little Girlie! Merry Christmas."

"Merry Chwismas Gildawts!" She smiled and gave him a soft hug around one of his legs.

The entire group smiled as she released her hug and let Gildarts move on. He then looked right over to Nab Lessaro. "Okay, well I'm sorry I didn't have time to wrap _my_ present." Here, catch!"

Nab looked puzzled as he grabbed a large white diamond-like lacrima out of the air. Gildarts then continued. "You guys wouldn't believe all the cool stuff I find on my missions, and since I drew the name of our resident _shut-in_ here I decided to give him one of my souvenirs. That thing is supposed to give off good luck to the owner, but either way it's pretty to look at."

Nab smiled and replied. "Gee, thanks man! Now I don't have to go on a mission of my own."

"HA! Merry Christmas, gang!" Gildarts laughed at Nab's joke, and just like that the _Crash Mage_ turned and left the hall as he walked out to his next mission.

Mavis smiled with pure delight as the party started getting under way. "Okay, two gifts down! You're up Nab!"

"Yea, well I actually went shopping for Reedus!" Nab quickly ran over and grabbed a box from under the tree and gave it to his artisan friend.

"Oh, well I'm very excited to see what I got!" Reedus smiled and opened up a new set of magical paint brushes with a brand new carrying case.

Nab smiled. "It's actually some sort of _magical carrying case_ that holds a ton of items, but fits in the palm of your hand. I figured you could store all your painting equipment away for travelling purposes whenever you go on missions."

Reedus smiled with acceptance. "Wow that sounds amazing! Thank you very much, Nab!"

The whole guild smiled in agreement as Mirajane spoke first. "Wow, well I bet you would have loved to have those new brushes to help make _your_ gift, huh Reedus?"

"Oui! These would have come in great handy for my piece!" Reedus smiled and went over to get his gift.

He then returned with a large painting of Port Hargeon that depicted an orange sun setting over the beautiful amber hills and shining blue sea.

"I would have wrapped it, but I didn't want to smear or tamper with the design." He walked right over to the non guild member Nigel, and handed him the painting. "Here you are, sir!"

"No way?" Nigel lit up like a kid on his birthday. "Wow! Thank you very much, Reedus!"

Reedus nodded his head. "I remembered that your company is now based out of Hargeon, so I figured a water color of your favorite town would be wonderfully nice gift."

Nigel agreed and nodded as he gently set his painting down. "Well, you're right on that one. Thanks again, and Merry Christmas!"

The businessman got up and slowly walked over to the tree. "Heh, now it's my turn…" He wondered over to the large tree and began digging through the gifts.

"Okay, now I know my name has floated around _a lot_ over this past week…" Nigel admitted as he dug through a large mound of gifts. "…but…I want to be clear on something. I have more faith in this guild than you people realize."

The Trillionaire mage smiled widely as he pulled out one teeny tiny package, followed by one medium sized package after that.

Right away Gray stopped him there. "Hold one. Why do you get to hand out two separate gifts?"

Nigel smirked. "Well, I'm only going to give _one_ of them to my giftee. I wanna see something for my own eyes…" He continued smiling and turned right to Wendy Marvel.

"Wendy! I hope you're ready!" Nigel beamed as he held out his two packages.

The resident _Sky Dragon Slayer_ looked surprised but excited at the same time. "Oh wow, Nigel! Thanks…but, what am I supposed to _do_ , exactly?"

Nigel chuckled. "You're supposed to open them both and pick your prize!"

The whole guild hall erupted with anger and confusion, but not as Master Makarov shouted out a command.

"SHUT UUUUUUUUUUUP!"

Everyone sank into silence as Makarov hissed his next remark. " _Morons_ …go ahead, Wendy."

"Okay…" Wendy now felt very nervous. She started with the first gift. As she unwrapped the paper, she then pulled out what appeared to be a very rough-edged statue of sorts, painted in all different colors, and the entire thing appeared to be only about a foot tall.

"Um, is that supposed to be _Carla and me_?" Wendy asked with an awkward expression.

Nigel grinned while nodding his head. "Yep! I worked on it all week. I hope you like it!"

It looked like he only worked _all day_ on it, it was actually _that ugly_. As Wendy set it down she proceeded to open up the second package. Then she revealed a tiny set of mysterious silver keys.

"Um, s-should I know what these are for?"

Nigel rolled his eyes and looked at all the other Fairies. "Oh no, but everyone all expected me to just cave and buy a really expensive gift instead. Those are for a _very_ _large_ and _very expensive_ party yacht that is currently sitting in the Magnolia Lake just out back."

Wendy stuttered. "A _y-yacht_?"

"Yes, a _very large boat_." Nigel nodded his head and crossed him arms. "I got it for about a Billion Jewel, then I spent another million just to have it flown out to the lake overnight. I'm really surprised none of you noticed it yet."

Elfman let out a loud complaint. "HOLD ON! You're saying she gets to choose between that little clay statue and a yacht!?"

Nigel replied before any other Fairies could voice their own opinion. "Yes, that's _exactly_ what I want her to do. I apologize to Wendy for putting her on the spot, but I want to prove that not everyone in this guild hall is out for super fancy presents."

Mavis giggled with joy. "Oh boy! I love game shows!" She sat in eager anticipation with the rest of the guild as Wendy made her decision.

"Well…" Wendy still held the keys to the yacht in her hand, but her eyes went straight to the small clay statue that sat on the floor.

It took her a little while after adjusting her eyes, but once she looked past a few blotchy areas, after after truly analyzing the cruel depiction of Nigel's awful sculpting skills, she finally saw herself and her little white friend smiling back at her from the tiny little statue.

Then, Wendy smiled. "Actually, I'm going to take the statue!"

The whole guild hall gasped, and Nigel turned around in surprise. "R-really?"

Wendy nodded and gave him the keys to the yacht. "I mean, I can't drive a boat, and I can really tell you worked super hard on the statue for me!"

Cana rolled her eyes and tried smirking through her drink. "I mean he worked really hard on earning that money too…"

Wendy laughed, but stood by her decision. "Thanks, Nigel! Merry Christmas!"

"Yea…" Nigel grinned with satisfaction as he threw the keys into the chest pocket of his shirt, and slowly took his seat. "Merry Christmas to you too, Wendy."

Then, Wendy smiled and ran over to grab her gift from the tree. "Okay, my gift was for Juvia!"

She smiled and gave her package to the surprised _Water Mage_ at the end of her table.

"Oh, well thank you Wendy." Juvia smiled as she opened up a gift bag that revealed a brand new dress just like the one she wore, except this one was a brighter shade of blue and it didn't have sleeves.

Juvia grinned. "Oh wow this looks very expensive! Thank you so much, Wendy!"

Wendy nodded and from there Juvia stood up to carry on. "Okay, I need some help getting my gift…"

Then, after ten or fifteen minutes everyone watched as Juvia stood by the open door that led into the kitchen behind the bar. Then, Elfman and Laxus emerged pushing a very life-sized ice sculpture of Gray Fullbuster into the room and moved it straight into the view of all the Fairies.

Juvia lit up with joy and turned to Gray. "Well my beloved, what do you think!?"

"W-wha…" Gray's eye began to twitch as he noticed the very intensive detail that had gone into making the sculpture. "W-where are my _pants_?"

Juvia giggled. "Gray don't be silly! It's an inside joke with the guild on why you strip so much!"

Elfman stood right beside the massive sculpture and scratched his head. "That's weird, where did his _manhood_ go…?"

Elfman was cut short as Laxus punched him in the stomach to silence his question.

Gray continued as he looked on in horror. "Yea…that part worries me the most…"

Juvia lit up again. "Oh that was Erza's idea! She thought it would be best to remove any _unwanted visuals_ to provide a censor for the younger members. So she chose to remove and destroy those bits, herself!"

"SHE _WHAT!?_ " Gray looked even more horrified as he looked over to Erza, and as he did that the proud Titania kept her eyes shut and her arms crossed as she grinned with humor.

"Okay." Makarov stepped up to keep the train going. "Very lovely gift, Juvia, but unfortunately we have to keep going. Gray, it's now you're turn."

Gray remained silent as he shook with fear and grabbed his gift. He then walked over and handed it to Bickslow as he continued shaking with confusion.

Bickslow smiled and grabbed the gift immediately. "Thanks, but after that hilarious show I dunno if your gift can beat it!" He opened up a gift bag to reveal an all-black knight's helmet with a dark purple feather on top; essentially the same helmet he wore only a few shades darker.

Bickslow looked on with excitement. "Ah, no way! Thanks, man!" He didn't wait for Gray to reply before he grabbed his own gift. "Here, this one's for you, First Master."

"Oh goodie!" Mavis smiled with joy as she received her present. "I can't wait to see what it is!" As she opened the box, Mavis revealed a pair of two cloudy gray lacrimas.

Bickslow continued. "They're _portal lacrima_. Spirits can use one to travel to the location of the other one. I figured you could leave one here at the guild hall and the other back on Tenrou to shorten your trips."

Mavis lit up with an overload of joy. "OHH! THIS IS SO THOUGHTFUL!" She then flew over and gave Bickslow a hug. "Thank you so much!"

As the crowd agreed, Bickslow took his seat and Mavis flew back to hers. "Now, my gift for the next person is right here!" She then pulled out an envelope with nothing written on it.

"To Jellal Fernandes!" As Mavis said that name, everyone turned to Jellal and Meldy, and the former stepped up to claim his gift.

As he opened the envelope, he revealed to burgundy colored tickets, and as he sat there speechless, Mavis continued. "Their two tickets for a two week trip to the Akane Resort!"

Jellal began to blush and looked up to Mavis. "Um, thank you Master Mavis; but I must ask…was it necessary to purchase _two_?"

Mavis giggled. "Well actually, since I couldn't buy them myself, I had to use Nab and Reedus's help to receive them, since they headed south for their gifts…though, now I completely forget why I only bought two.

Jellal fell further in his stance. "Er, maybe the other is for you, Meldy."

Meldy stepped up with a giggling face to reply. "Nah, I have a feeling I know who it's really meant for…"

All the other guild members turned to find Erza Scarlet now facing away from everyone else, just to hide her beet-red cheeks.

Jellal let out a sigh, even though he couldn't actually see her. "Well, thank you Master Mavis…Now I suppose it's my turn."

The Heavenly Body mage then walked over, and immediately confronted Erza, who now had no choice but to turn toward the audience.

"No way…" Lucy and Happy mirrored each other's thoughts with gaping mouths as Jellal revealed his secret giftee for everyone to see.

Jellal thought for a small second and in a clever move he handed Erza the second ticket.

"For you."

Erza reluctantly grabbed the ticket as her gift just to end the conversation as quickly as possible, because she now had some idea as to what he actually bought for her sitting under the tree. "Well…thanks."

"HOLD ON!" Wakaba Mine shouted out with a smirk on his face as he held his pipe in hand. "Where's your real gift, lover boy!?"

Jellal did not want to reveal the actual gift that he bought for Erza. "Um…well…"

Makarov shouted back. "Oh no, I'm sorry Jellal but you volunteered to join the gift giving party. You must participate accordingly."

Jellal took his defeat and looked right at Meldy, who (since Gildarts left) was now the only one in the room who knew what his _actual_ gift was. She tried holding her laughter in but couldn't entirely as the _Heavenly Body_ Mage took a slow walk over to the tree.

Finally, as he returned to the others, her quickly handed Erza a frilly pink gift bag secretly filled with very luxurious black laced lingerie.

"Here…er, I wouldn't open that in the guild hall, if I were you…"

* * *

 **Okay! So micro-recap:**

 **Asuka is adorable, Gildarts is clever, Nigel tried being thoughtful, Wendy is sweet, Juvia is psycho, Gray is horrified, Jellal is perverted (for _very_ understanding reasons) and everyone else is happy to be their!**

 **Also, I am really glad I had the idea to add Meldy into the party! The idea of leaving her alone on Christmas made me sad, so I decided to let her join in on the fun, too!**

 **Either way, please continue to chapter 12: part 2!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Author's Note: Okay! Part 2! Hope this doesn't get too long...lol.**

 **In all seriousness there are a handful of FT mages that I will quickly fly through when it comes to their gift-giving scenes. Apologies but I want to keep the scenes rolling, and I can't expect to have a detailed scene for _EVERY_ character.**

 **That being said, if you saw a character in a fare amount of detail from past chapters, then they are most likely salvaged. So all your favorites will get their shining moments. Now Part 2!**

 **Also, I do not own _Fairy Tail_.**

* * *

Chapter Thirteen - On the Twelfth Day: Part 2

* * *

As the guild members all turned their heads and acted like Jellal's gift exchange never actually happened, Erza finally collected herself and carried out with the next leg of the gift exchange.

"Okay, well everyone here has had some very colorful gifts. Now it's my turn…" She smiled as she came back to the group after leaving the kitchen.

"Behold!" Erza shouted with pride as she held a beautifully decorated pastry box over her head. "Droy, this is for you. Merry Christmas."

Droy opened the box to reveal a very delicious looking strawberry cake that was topped with several golden/yellow ultra-rare strawberries from the frigid peaks of Mount Hakobe.

"No way! This must have taken you ages to bake, Erza!" Droy could tell Erza put a lot of hard work into the pastry and smiled in response. "Thanks! Merry Christmas to you too!"

Meanwhile, Jet chuckled in response to the gift. "Good stuff…but don't you think it was a little dangerous to hand him something _that_ delicious?"

Levy, who sat between Jet and Droy, turned to smack her orange haired racing friend right on the arm. Then, Droy set his cake down to reply. "Actually, I'm glad you made a joke…" He then got up and walked over to the Christmas tree to retrieve his gift for the exchange.

"I had you for Secret Santa…Merry Christmas, Jet." Droy stood with a serious expression as the entire guild hall sat in silence.

"HA! _Damn_ , that stings!" Cana drunkenly blurted out an un-needed comment before Nigel and Macao could lean over to cover her mouth.

Jet, for a moment, looked disappointed with himself. "Ah, damn man…thanks. I was really just joking by the way."

Droy rolled his eyes in sarcasm, and delivered the expecting smile for his long time friend. "Yea, I figured. Just get on with it."

Jet opened up his gift to reveal a brand new pair of _magic runner's shoes_. "Ah these are sick! Thanks, man!" Jet then stood up to hug Droy, which made the latter smile in acceptance.

As they finished their touching moment, Jet moved on. "Okay, my gift's for Happy! Here ya go little guy!"

Happy lit up with joy as Jet rolled out a large barrel of fresh Hargeon mackerel right from the kitchen.

"OH NO WAY! THANKS JET!" He flew over to hug the barrel of fish as Jet replied.

"Eh, I still feel like I owe you after helping me in that race a few years ago." Jet made sure Happy would walk away this Christmas a very happy cat. " Merry Christmas little guy!"

"AYE SIR! Merry Christmas!" Happy smiled with joy as he then flew over to grab his basket of gifts from under the tree. "Here!"

The little blue cat cried out with self-excitement as he carried a large basket over to his secret giftee. The receiver was none other than Carla, the fellow exceed, and she looked rather intrigued with his large gif being presented.

"Oh, well this looks fancy…what is it?" She looked puzzled as she pulled out several different pieces for a _fishing supply kit_ , including two fishing rods, bait, string, tackle boxes and a lot of other goodies.

"I bought you some fishing gear! Now you can go fishing with me, Nastu and Lucy!" He then whispered loudly into her ear. "Actually just take Lucy's place. She's kinda bad at fishing…"

"Gee, thanks Happy." Lucy tried to ignore his words as she observed Carla's reaction.

Carla looked on with a puzzled expression. "Well, now why did you go and get me _two_ of everything? If you expect me to give one set to _you_ for fishing on alone time then…"

"Actually they're for Wendy!" Happy cut her off to explain before she could continue.

"Ohhh…" She tried correcting herself. "Well, I must say that is very thoughtful. Thank you very much, Happy." Carla gave him a soft smile as he nearly fainted, and he immediately made way for her to fly away.

As she landed near the tree, Carla pulled out a large, yet very long box trimmed with black and red wrappings. "Okay, Gajeel this is for you."

"Hmm?" Gajeel looked intrigued as he got up and unwrapped an all-silver shiny new guitar with shiny black strings.

" _Shoo-be-do-bah!_ " Gajeel smiled as he tried on his new instrument and adjusted the strap. "The little cat delivered!"

Immediately Levy sighed. "Oh god, please don't let him play that thing…"

To late, because now he had already made it onto the stage.

*Cough* *Cough* "It's the _mooost_ wonderful _tiiime_ of the _yeeeaaar_ …Shoo-be-do-bah! With the kids jingle bellin' and everyone…"

"NO NO NO! Cut this crap _out_!"

"BOO! YOU _SUCK!_ "

"OFF THE STAGE, _GAJEEL_!"

The entire guild hall erupted so loudly that Gajeel had no choice but to stop playing. "Alright fine, but just so you know when Christmas rolls around this time tomorrow, there ain't nobody that's getting in between me and that stage!"

" _Oh please let Natsu miraculously return tomorrow morning…_ " Lucy sighed and began to silently pray for a fight that she usually hated, but then caught on to something in her mind.

" _Huh, we're half way through our gift exchange, and Natsu still isn't here yet. I hope he's alright…_ " Lucy had already chosen to grab his gift out from under the tree prior to the exchange and now she nervously clutched it in worries for her lost friend.

As Lucy thought to herself, Gajeel carried on. "Okay, thanks anyway, Cat. Now it's time to get my gift!"

Gajeel left the room to run into the back closet to drag out his very large present, and as everyone in the room sat in wait, Levy shook with nerves and anxiety as Gajeel finally arrived.

"Huh?" Levy let out a shriek of confusion and quickly threw her hands up to cover her mouth. Lucky for her, no one saw.

Then, Panther Lily jumped up and grinned as he eyed the brand new weight lifting machine that Gajeel hand-picked back in Crocus. "Well, it sure looks impressive. Thanks old friend. Merry Christmas."

"Heh, no problem pal. Merry Christmas." Gajeel patted Lily on the head and immediately sat down in wait for the next gift.

Levy was trying to collect her thoughts, and never even realized that Lily had come right to her after receiving his gift. He then smiled and handed her a large red package.

"Oh…you guys are awful." She couldn't help but grin as no one else in the room understood the joke, and as Lily smiled back he watched Levy open up a package that included a full archive on the history of the alternate universe, Edolas.

"OH WOW! This looks so cool! Where'd you get it?" Levy asked with joy as Lily smiled.

"Actually, Master Makarov gave me a few of Mystogan's old belongings that he left here in Earth-Land, and lucky for me I found a copy of my old kingdom's history. I knew you would like it."

Levy smiled with glee as she bent over to give him a big hug. "Thank you Lily! Merry Christmas!"

As Lily accepted her reaction, Levy turned to get her gift from under the tree. "Okay Warren, I hope you're ready!"

One by one and gift by gift, the Fairies continued down the list by handing out their individual presents. Levy gave Warren a brand new Atlas of Earth-Land, Warren gave Kinana a sparkling new necklace, Kinana gave Master Makarov a shiny personalized snow globe that featured a tiny model of the Fairy Tail guild hall and lit up with light lacrimas, and Makarov rewarded Macao with two tickets for a magic fight in Crocus; that way the senior _Flame Wizard_ could take his son out for some father-son time.

Meanwhile Macao gave Wakaba a brand new and well-needed magical pipe, and Wakaba reward his friend's son Romeo with a set of brand new golf clubs (because according to several guild members Romeo is an excellent athlete.)

Then, it was Romeo's turn to hand out a gift. "Okay, I had Elfman's name!"

The large _Takeover_ mage then stood up with excitement. "Okay, cool! So what'd I get, Little Man?"

Romeo smiled and handed him a large gift bag, and as soon as Elfman received it he pulled out two fire-red magical boxing gloves.

"OH WOW THESE ARE SO FREAKIN' MANLY! HAH, now I can spar with Natsu without burning my fists against his!" He then high-fived Romeo with a smile. "Thanks Romeo! Merry Christmas!"

Then, as Romeo sat back down, Elfman turned over to the tree. "Okay, I actually lucked out with my gift this year and got someone _really special_."

He grabbed his gift and looked over to Lisanna. "Here Sis, Merry Christmas."

"Awe, Elf!" Lisanna wanted to cry she was so excited to receive his gift. As she opened up the box she was greeted to a large and colorful photo album that appeared to be decorated with dozens of pictures featuring their family, friends, and the guild hall of Fairy Tail.

"Thanks to Reedus I was able to get some pretty cool paintings in there too!" Elfman boasted with pride. "I like the way it turned out!"

Lisanna let a little tear roll down her cheek and leaned in to give her older brother a hug. "Thank you so much, Elfman. Merry Chrstmas!"

Everyone smiled and enjoyed the scene as Elfman sat down following his display, and made way for Lisanna to reveal her giftee.

"Okay, well that'll be hard to beat, but I can always try!" Lisanna smiled and grabbed her gift, and as she returned to the group she walked over to Evergreen of the _Thunder Legion_.

"Here ya go, Evergreen! Merry Christmas!" Lisanna handed her the package as Evergreen and Elfman both sat in confusion.

"Huh!? NO WAY!" Elfman shouted out. "So you were giving me jokes about shopping for Evergreen while you had her name the entire time!?"

Lisanna giggled. "Well, what can I say? You two are too adorable _not_ to tease!"

The entire guild hall let out small chuckles, and as Elfman grew angrier, Evergreen snapped her fingers.

"Yes, well enough using me in your little family jokes. I would like to hand out my gift today, as well." Evergreen tried sounding snappy, but then stopped and smiled as she revealed a brand new dark green two-piece swim suit out of her newly received gift bag.

"Oh, well this is very tasteful! Thank you so much, Lisanna!" She jumped up and gave the little _Takeover_ mage a big hug.

"Awe, thanks!" Lisanna then smiled. "Whelp, now it's your turn!"

"Yes, I suppose it is." Evergreen then walked over to receive her own gift out from under the tree. As she returned she handed Mirajane a large gift basket decorated with a large red bow.

"Merry Christmas, Dear!" Evergreen boasted as Mira smiled with joy.

"Awe, I am so excited!" Mira giggled and pulled out a very large and elaborate cookbook that she had always wanted. "Oh the _Tastes of Ishgar!_ I've been meaning to buy this for the guild kitchen! Thank you so much, Evergreen!"

Mira joined Evergreen in a hug, and as it ended the brown haired Fairy Mage replied. "Yes, well I guess it's time to move on. No need to stop on my amazing choice of gift."

"No I suppose your right!" Mira giggled and grabbed her own present. "Here you go Max!"

Max lite up and cheered as he received his very one Max Alors action figure with custom sand lacrimas built in, and he was just as excited to give Laki her brand new wood carving kit for his Secret Santa present.

Laki graciously accepted and continued by giving Vijeeter Ecor a hand-made wooden lute, curtsy of her handy _Wood-Make_ Magic.

Vijeeter danced with joy as he received his new instrument and spun over to the large Christmas tree to retrieve his present for the next recipient.

"Here you are, _Laxus!_ I hope you enjoy!"

Laxus looked speechless as he pulled out a very elaborate and colorful robe from an old-fashioned bag.

"Eh…what is it?" The tall _Lightning Mage_ asked with confusion.

"Oh it's a ceremonial dance robe! I had it shipped in all the way from the holy land of dance-the _Kingdom of Minstrel!_ "

Everyone used all the strength in their bodies to hold in all the laughter they could, or else they would surely suffer the wrath of Laxus.

Meanwhile, Laxus himself nodded his head. "Well to be honest I probably won't wear it...like at all. Plus, I don't dance…but since you had it shipped in I can tell you worked pretty hard to get it here. Thanks, and Merry Christmas."

Vijeeter smiled with joy, and everyone in the guild hall nearly fell over from Laxus's kind gesture.

Now, it was Laxus's turn. "Uh well, I guess I'm up…" He then stood tall and retrieved his stuff out from under the tree.

Then he walked over to his long-time partner Freed Justine and handed him the package. "Here. Merry Christmas, man."

Freed was speechless, and slowly opened up the large package to reveal two items. One was a large burgundy coat that matched his regular attire, only this coat had a fluffy collar and wrist cuffs just like his three counter-parts in the Thunder Legion had.

The _second_ gift (because no one was about to question Laxus for bringing two gifts) was a framed picture of all four of the Thunder Legion members at their first mission together _,_ and beside it in the frame was the _request form_ for their very first team job.

The entire guild hall went speechless, and Freed nearly fell over as he tried to collect his words.

"Laxus…you're giving me our very first request form?"

Laxus rolled his eyes. "Hey, don't think I made the decision alone. Bickslow and Ever's names are on there too, and they agreed to let me use it in the gift."

Freed looked over to Bickslow and Evergreen as the both winked and gave him a thumbs up.

Freed slowly stood and finally wrapped his hands around his good friend. "Thank you, Laxus…I will always treasure these mementos as a sign of our teamwork."

Laxus tried to embrace the hug without getting embarrassed. "Yea, do whatever you want, pal…"

Satisfied with his hug, Freed finally let go of Laxus and walked over to pick up his own gift from under the tree. As it appeared to be in the shape of a wine bottle, everyone in the room immediately knew who it was for.

Nigel, Macao, and wakaba actually added on a joke, and the first of them stood from his bar stool. "Ah Freed! You shouldn't have! I already _have_ a gift!"

Cana smiled and pushed them back into there seats as she sat up to receive a very expensive bottle of imported red wine, all the way from the other side of the continent.

Freed explained. "Apparently it is the finest wine the city of Crocus has to offer. I went to try the ports of Hargeon for better imports, but the shop's sommelier insisted I would not find a better red in all of Fiore."

"Awe!" Cana nearly cried as she clutched the bottle like a new born baby. "Well thanks, Freed. Merry Christmas!" She set the bottle down and leaned over to give Freed a hug, and he kindly accepted in response.

Then, as Freed turned to sit back down, it now became Cana's turn to deliver a gift.

* * *

 **Okay! So micro-recap?:**

 **Erza is awesome, Jet and Droy are cute, Happy and Carla are cuter, Gajeel and Levy are even cuter, we flew through a lot of random people, Natsu still isn't here, The Strausses and the Thunder Legion are all awesome, and for some reason...I've placed a dramatic cliff hanger on Cana of all people?**

 **Read on in Part 3!**

 **(BTW the "golf club" reference with Romeo's gift comes from my story OPERATION: _Vacation!_ )**


	14. Chapter 14

**Author's Note: Hello! As stated before, Chapters 12. 13 and 14 are all three parts to the Twelfth Day of Christmas. PLEASE GO BACK TO CHAPTER 12 AND MAKE SURE YOU START FROM THEIR IF YOU ARE AUTOMATICALLY RE-DIRECTED TO HERE!**

 **Now...back to Cana! Enjoy the final chapter of the story, and as Jon Stewart would say; Here it is your _Moment of Zen_.**

 **Finally, I DO NOT OWN _FAIRY TAIL!_**

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Chapter Fourteen - On the Twelfth Day: Part 3

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The entire guild sat up in anticipation as First Master Mavis Vermilion jumped up with joy. "Okay, Cana it's your turn!"

"Ahehe…yea it is, isn't it?" The _Card Mage_ awkwardly replied with a slow laugh and a pause.

Sadly for Cana…she _never even_ went shopping throughout the entire twelve day process.

In fact, she was so confident that she would find the guild's best gift that she _actually_ convinced herself that she had _already_ bought a gift early in the week…only it now appeared to all be a drunken illusion, and she now sat in the guild hall with no present to give.

"So, who did you have to shop for, Cana?" Master Makarov asked with a curious look on his face.

Nigel on the other hand knew _exactly_ why she couldn't answer that question, and immediately crossed his arms and legs and looked on with sarcasm. "Yea, Cana. Tell 'em who you went shopping for."

Cana laughed. "Ahaha, well I had little _Asuka_ to shop for this Christmas…surprise Asuka!"

"YAY! I get my _pwesent_ now!" Asuka jumped out of her father, Alzack's arms and immediately ran over to greet Cana at the bar.

Everyone in the guild hall laughed, with the exception of Lucy Heartfilia.

" _Wait…Asuka's up next?_ " The blonde thought to herself. " _Asuka already gave her gift out earlier. And I never got picked._ " She then added up the math, and looked down to the gift she was supposed to give Natsu.

" _That means…_ " She stopped her thought as Cana went to speak.

"Ah so are ya ready, little Asuka?" Cana tried stalling as she looked around the room for any possible outing.

Luckily for her, she immediately found her cop-out as soon as her eyes landed to the right, exactly on Nigel's front shirt pocket.

In one quick move, Cana reached into the chest pocket of her friend's shirt (as if she hadn't stolen enough liquor from his house all week) and retrieved _two small silver keys_.

She then shouted with delight and smiled like a pure genius. "How would you like a _brand new yacht_ for Christmas!?"

"OH WOW _WEALLY!?_ " Asuka jumped up and down as she received the expensive boating keys from Cana's hands.

"Merry Christmas Asuka!" Cana yelled with glee as she picked up Asuka and wrapped the little girl in a great big hug.

As she did, the entire guild hall busted out with laughter, except for Nigel.

In fact, right as Cana turned to wink in his direction, the businessman stopped and raised an eyebrow in defeat as he also raised his glass high.

"Ahh, _funny_ …Merry Christmas, everyone."

Then, the entire guild hall jumped up and cheered all at once in response. "MERRY CHRISTMAS _FAIRY TAIL!_ "

Soon after, Master Makarov took the reins of the party. "Well, Asuka was the first person to hand out a gift, so I guess we're all done! What's say we let the lucky girl show us this _new yacht_ as we carry the party out onto the lake!?"

"YEAH!" The entire guild hall agreed and immediately followed Cana and Asuka out the doors.

That is, everyone except for Lucy.

"HOLD ON! I NEVER GOT TO GIVE _MY_ PRESENT!?"

Then, as Lucy looked to the back of the crowd in an awkward state of mind, Happy turned around and smiled.

"Oh, Lucy! I forgot to tell you…Natsu's at _your_ place!"

"Huh…?" Lucy froze with confusion as Happy giggled.

"Merry Christmas you silly _lovebird!_ " The little cat continued to laugh even harder as he appeared to be the last Fairy out the door to celebrate on the yacht.

"But…? _Grrr_ …" Lucy turned beat red as she sat alone on the guild hall floor. "Now I'm starting to wonder if my land lady really did have to renovate our apartments!"

The angry _Celestial Spirit_ Mage stood up and stormed off in a fit of rage as she left the guild hall and rushed back to her apartment.

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As Lucy stormed up the steps of her apartment complex, she unlocked the bolt lock and slammed open the door.

"ALRIGHT, NATSU I WANT AN EXPLANATION FOR…!" Lucy yelled out with pure dramatic rage as she soon collected herself and observed her dimly lit apartment.

Inside she found the entire inch of her room was decorated with colorful Christmas lights and decorations, and she now had a very elaborate and festive tree sitting in the corner of the room.

Even better, the tree had colorful lights, and little ornaments that depicted each of Fiore's major guild emblems hung from every branch to give the tree a very sentimental touch.

"What is all this?" Lucy also wondered over to see four red and green stockings hanging over her little old fashioned stove. They individually ready "HAPPY" "NATSU" "LUCY" and "PLUE" in that order.

Lucy quickly blushed at the odd choice of stockings and finally turned around to see Natsu passed out on the floor asleep while he leaned up against the side of her bed.

"Oh _Natsu_ …" She quietly sighed to herself as she didn't want to wake him.

Sadly, she did.

" _Agh!_...mornin' Lucy! *YAWN* Eh, what time is it?"

Lucy rolled her eyes and chuckled in her replied. "It's like ten o'clock at night, Natsu. The gift exchange just ended."

"WHAT!? AGH MAN!" Natsu looked angry at himself for missing the exchange, and started rubbing is pink hair with two angry hands.

Lucy bent over and sat down right beside him, as she leaned her back against her own bed frame. "Let me guess…you had _me_ for Secret Santa, didn't you?"

Natsu shook his head and quickly smiled as he forgot about his earlier trouble. "Yea, actually I did! So do you like the place!?"

Lucy laughed again and replied. "Yea, it looks a little over done, but I bet you bought all these decorations yourself?"

"Sure did." Natsu nodded with pride and crossed his arms. "I had more stockings for all your other spirits, but they wouldn't fit on the stove. I guess you can switch out all the ones you wanna keep up."

Lucy looked over to the fire place and smiled. "Yea, I was thinking about taking _your's_ and _Happy's_ down since _YOU DON'T LIVE HERE!_ "

She wanted to smack him up side the head for putting one of himself and Happy up, and this all left Natsu looking very confused. "Awe, why would you do that, Lucy?"

She shook her head and somehow grinned again. "Never mind. Anyway…I'm actually glad you're here. I-I had you picked out for Secret Santa too...surprise."

It now appears that out of the entire guild, only _two_ people received each other's names in the gift exchange.

Lucy smiled as she held out her package. "Here, Natsu."

"Wow Lucy, Thanks!" Natsu looked up with joy as he received his gift. As he unwrapped the gift, he first pulled out a card of some sorts. "Eh, what is this?"

Lucy blushed and turned her head to hide her own embarrassment. "Erm, that's actually a gag gift…it's a _year-long express pass_ for the Magnolia Train Station."

Natsu examined it and looked back. "Lucy, I hate trains…"

"Yea, _that's_ the joke…haha?" Lucy kept her head turned the other way to avoid any awkward eye contact.

"HA! NO KIDDING!? That's hilarious!" Natsu lit up with total comedic joy. "I actually got you a gag gift too!"

Natsu's reply finally broke Lucy's awkward mood as she snapped back around. "Huh? But what's all this…?" She sat in confusion as she pointed around to her newly decorated apartment.

"What? You thought the decorations were…oh man, Lucy! You really aren't as smart as people say you are!"

Even though she wanted to hit him in the mouth for that comment, she held in her backlash in order for Natsu to continue.

"Nah, don't worry. I got you _real gifts_ on top of all this extra crap!"

Lucy went to reply, but was stopped again as he opened his actual present. "Oooo this is shiny, what is it?" He asked with curiosity.

She tried to explain. "Actually, that's a lacrima made from the embers of that dragon you teamed up with in Crocus. You know, _Atlas Flame?_ "

Natsu looked like he was a child. "NO WAY!? THAT'S AWESOME! I can have this for lunch tomorrow!"

"WAIT! I DON'T WANT YOU TO _EAT_ IT!?" Lucy cried out to defend her gift, but Natsu seemed to ignore her, and wanted to move on the next item on the list.

"Okay, here's your actual gifts!" He pulled them out from under the bed, and sat them firmly on her lap.

Lucy was speechless as she received a small gift bag. She tried to conceal her blushing cheeks as she pulled out the first item.

Then her eye began twitching as she revealed a brand new copy of Nigel's 3D _Pokémon_ video game; the same one that she and her friends were trapped inside for a whole week and almost died in on multiple occasions.

Lucy wanted to throw it out the window. "Natsu…you know I _really_ hate this game, right?"

Natsu chuckled. "Well yea, dummy! That's what a gag gift is! Nigel said you'd find it funny!"

Lucy finally _did_ find it funny as she collected herself and smiled. "Man, you are clever, Natsu…"

She then opened up her second gift. As she pulled out the second half to her present, Lucy was completely lost for words when she saw what it was.

It appeared to be the exact same autograph that _Bora the Prominence_ gave Natsu on the day of their first encounter.

Lucy shook with more rage. "Natsu… _two_ gag gifts!?"

Natsu held his hands over his mouth to conceal his childish laughs. "Heehee…I lied, those were your actual gifts! MAN YOU SHOULD SEE YOUR FACE RIGHT NOW!"

Lucy's blood started boiling as she sat by her fiery friend with pure rage on her mind. Then, Lucy suddenly gasped as Natsu brought her in for a tight warming hug.

"Hehe…Merry Christmas, Lucy." He smiled with a large grin, which made her awkwardly blush even more.

"Agh, thanks Natsu…you too."

As they each held their hug out for a longer period of time, Natsu paused and looked up.

"Oh, I forgot! When I told Happy I was decorating your room, he also gave me _that._ I'm not sure what it's for, though."

Lucy's heart skipped a beat as soon as she heard the name _Happy._ Immediately she turned up to see a tiny ball of _mistletoe_ hanging above their heads, and right there she nearly lost her mind.

 _"I'm going to kill him in his sleep."_ Lucy tried thinking off all the possible ways she could end the mischievous cat's life then and there, but stopped as Natsu revealed he wasn't done.

Natsu continued. "He said ' _hang it right above her head, and wait to see her reaction._ ' He also said you would tell me what it means."

"Oh man…" Lucy then tried to muster the courage to reply. She then looked over and accidentally got caught in the gaze of his eyes as she thought of an easy answer.

"A-actually…" There was no way out of it for her at this point. "That's…f-for…"

Then, Lucy caved, and leaned over to give Natsu a _small_ peck on the cheek. Natsu reacted to the strange move, and following the small kiss, Lucy laid her head down on his shoulder and smiled awkwardly.

"Eh, Merry Christmas, Natsu…"

"Um, Lucy…" Natsu replied with confusion as he rubbed his cheek. "You never told me what it's…"

"NATSU!" She lashed out without moving her head. "Just…let me rest a bit, then we can leave for the guild."

Natsu stopped, and then smiled as he put his arm around his tired friend's shoulders.

"Ha! Whatever you say, Lucy… _Merry Christmas_ "

 _The End!_

 _And Have a Very_

 _Merry Christmas from Me to You!_

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 **Awe! Natsu and Lucy are _soo adorable_...and I really do think Cana won the gift exchange.**

 **Guys! Thank you all so _very_ much for coming to my page and spending the last few moments of the holidays reading my story! I really really hope you enjoyed my story, and thanks again for leaving your comments! **

**No matter if you celebrate it or not, please have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!**

 **(Also, if you are fans of my Pokemon x Fairy Tail story titled _I Choose You_...come by my page on January the 1st...I think you'll like what you see.)**


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